The Regional Institute of Population Studies (RIPS) of the University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA), has handed over a refurbished adolescents health centre to residents of Kpanvu community in the Tamale Metropolis.
The refurbished centre is stocked with books, television, games and other learning materials to help the youth access information on their sexual and reproductive health rights.
The facility, “Adolescents Friendly Health Corner (AFHC),” is under the RIPS’ Healthy Cities for Adolescents (HCA) project, being implemented, in collaboration with TaMA and other partners, with funding support from the Botnar Foundation.
The HCA project being implemented in Tamale Metropolis seeks to build a multi-stakeholder consortium with the capacity to use evidence-based information for strategic programming to enhance adolescents health and general well being towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The AFHC would provide an enabling environment for adolescents to confidently share issues relating to their reproductive health with health officials to get the right information to help improve their wellbeing.
Mrs Clara Lamisi Weobong, HCA Project Field Programme Officer in Tamale, who spoke during the handing over ceremony, said it was important for adolescents to have a friendly environment to confidently share and discuss their sexual and reproductive needs with health professionals.
She said most adolescents were uncomfortable sharing their reproductive health needs at health facilities hence the need to provide an enabling environment that could take care of their needs.
Mrs Weobong said, “Some of our adolescents feel they are too young to be engaging in issues of reproductive health in the public and because of this, some have made wrong choices due to non-availability of facilities that could protect their privacy.”
Madam Elizabeth Atindana of the Public Health Directorate of the TaMA, who received the facility on behalf of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), expressed gratitude to the HCA project, saying it would enable the adolescents to make positive choices on their reproductive health needs.
Ms Zakaria Hafsah, an adolescent in the Kpanvu community, said, “This centre will give us the confidence to explore, discuss and learn more on methods to enhance our sexual and reproductive health needs.”
