By Isaac Eranga
In a bid to making reproductive health services accessible to adolescents and youths of Edo, a non governmental organisation known as the Connected Advocacy for Employment and Youth Development Initiative, has conducted a step down training for social mobilizers in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of the State.
Speaking on the theme titled: Community Accelerating Action for Accessing Adolescent Youth Reproductive Health Services, the Executive Director- Prince Dr. Israel Orekha said the training was to educate social mobilizers on the need and methods of integrating adolescent youth sexual reproductive health (AYSRH) in the existing reproductive health programs of the State.
He said this is very much important as a result of the fact that adolescents and youths are more in number when it comes to unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion. “This has led to complications, even death, in the lives of female adolescents and youths.
“The primary goal is to increase demand for reproductive health information and services among young people (15-24 years), particularly in urban poor areas.
“16 million girls under age 18, give birth each year globally. Even when they were not prepared for it, they got it. This could be attributable to the fact as revealed by NDHIS, that 96.8%of ages 15-19, do not currently use contraceptives in Nigeria.
“Edo State has 32.7% unmet need for family planning and is the second highest on the list after Cross Rivers”, he said.
Prince Orekha highlighted the following as tips for meaningful youth engagement: defining vision for youth engagement; establishing short and long term engagement opportunities; building in skills and leadership development; engaging parents, families, and communities; investing sufficient resources and time; measuring results of youth engagement; etc.
Presenting a paper on overview of adolescent sexual reproductive health in Nigeria, a Reproductive Health Supervisor with Ikpoba-Okha local government area, Mrs. Margaret Ekiuwa, said sexuality is a broad term that refers to a core dimension of being human which includes sex, gender, sexual and gender identity, sexual orientation, emotional attachment/love, and reproduction.
“It is much more than sexual feelings or sexual intercourse. Rather, it includes all the feelings, sexual thoughts, attitudes, experiences, learning, ideas, values, imaginings and behaviour of a person whether male or female. It also refers to the totality of who you are, what you believe, what you feel and how you respond from birth to death”, she said.
Mrs Ekiuwa said issues of concern in adolescent sexual health include: unintended/unplanned pregnancies; unsafe abortion; sexual abuse; early marriage; female genital mutilation; STIs/HIV; drug/substance abuse; human trafficking; sex work (male and female); transgenerational sex; forced marriage; coping with puberty (wet dreams, menstruation, organ/ breast size, etc); mental health, truama and injuries, and nutritional problems.
Also speaking, a social mobilizer trainer, Dr. Isaac Eranga spoke on the effect of unwanted pregnancy. He said apart from the fact that it leads to unsafe abortion, it also lead to infertility, complications that may lead to deformity, even death.
“Effects of unwanted pregnancy on boys include: dropping out from school, potential poverty, too young to father a baby and taking responsibilities, worry leading to failure in examinations, low self-esteem, possibility of contracting STIs/HIV.
“Effects on girls include: depression and sadness, low self-esteem and stigmatization, dropping out of school and potential poverty, possibility of contracting STIs/HIV, difficulty in delivery of the baby because the girl’s body is not yet developed to carry and deliver the baby, too young to carry responsibilities of motherhood, etc”, Dr. Eranga said.
Other papers presented include: Values and value clarification, Demand generation, high impact interventions, life skill: goal setting, interpersonal communication, referrals and use of Go Cards, Ideation model, puberty and adolescent, etc.
