ActionAid Ghana, in collaboration with the Young Urban Women’s Movement, has intensified efforts to address rising adolescent pregnancies and sexual harassment by strengthening adolescent-friendly health services across the Volta Region.
This formed the focus of a stakeholders’ dissemination meeting held in Ho, where findings from an assessment of existing adolescent-friendly health corners in Ghana were shared with key institutions, including health professionals, education authorities, gender advocates, and security agencies.
The programme, themed “Strengthening Adolescent-Friendly Health Services for a Healthier Future,” brought together regional and district health directors, nurses, midwives, social welfare officers, and other stakeholders to evaluate the availability, accessibility, and effectiveness of adolescent health corners, as well as their level of patronage by young people, particularly adolescent girls.
Speaking at the meeting, the Project Coordinator of the Young Urban Women’s Movement, Thelma Assabre, explained that the engagement was aimed at disseminating findings from assessments conducted in several districts and fostering dialogue on how adolescent-friendly health corners can be improved to better respond to the reproductive health needs of young people in their communities.
She noted that gaps identified during the assessment include limited awareness, inadequate resources, and weak coordination among service providers, underscoring the need for deliberate action to make the health corners more youth-centred and accessible.
The Volta Regional Director for Gender and Social Protection, Mrs. Thywill Eyra Kpe, commended ActionAid Ghana and its partners for the initiative, describing it as timely in the face of increasing cases of teenage pregnancy and sexual harassment, especially in senior high schools.
Mrs. Kpe expressed concern about the vulnerability of adolescent girls and called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders, including the Ghana Police Service, the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), school authorities, and education directors, to ensure perpetrators of sexual abuse are held accountable.
She stressed that strengthening adolescent-friendly health services must go hand in hand with enforcing the law and protecting the rights of girls, urging institutions to act decisively when cases of sexual harassment are reported.
Mrs. Kpe also encouraged adolescents not to shy away from visiting health facilities, social welfare offices, and gender-related institutions to seek information, counselling, and support, assuring them that these services exist to safeguard their wellbeing.
The stakeholders’ engagement concluded with a collective call for sustained investment, coordination, and policy support to ensure adolescent-friendly health corners effectively contribute to reducing teenage pregnancies and promoting the overall health and rights of young people in the Volta Region.
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