The French Embassy in Ghana has partnered Mabia-Ghana, a Bolgatanga based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to refurbish and equip two Adolescent Health Centres in the Yikpabongo and Yizesi communities in the Mamprugu-Moagduri District of the North East Region.
The Centres, equipped with medical and non-medical equipment and consumables were meant to educate adolescents on sexual and reproductive health issues, and serve as recreational facilities for them.
At Yikpabongo, the NGO refurbished an abandoned dilapidated structure attached to the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound and equipped it with furniture, medical equipment and consumables, games, contraceptives, among others.
Related items were presented to another Adolescent Health Centre at the Yizesi Health Centre, where Mabia-Ghana also refurbished an adolescent-friendly facility constructed by Plan International.
Mr Moses Liyobe Nanang, the Programme Manager for Mabia-Ghana, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Yizesi after two separate ceremonies to commission the projects, that the initiative to refurbish and equip the Centres was part of a project implemented by Mabia-Ghana.
He said the project was aimed to improve the sexual health and development of adolescents in the Yikpabongo sub-district, adding that apart from the two communities, the project would benefit adolescents from the Tantala, Nangrumah and Zukpeni communities.
He said the total cost of the two projects including capacity building workshops for nurses, midwives and teachers, community, and school outreaches to provide Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) all amounted to GHȻ221,100.
Mr Nanang explained that the French Embassy in Ghana supported with GHȻ179,700 through its Dwabo Small Grants Programme, whilst Mabia-Ghana topped up with GHȻ41,400.
He said the North East Regional Health Directorate, through the efforts of the former Regional Director, Dr Abdulai Abukari, presented a brand-new motorbike to the Yikpabongo CHPS compound as the Region’s contribution to the project.
The Programme Manager said Mabia-Ghana paid critical attention to sexual and reproductive health and had over the years worked to ensure adolescents had access to information and services on their sexual and reproductive health.
“Many adolescents end up with issues later in life because they did not get the right information and did not get the right service as well. So, we want to make information available to the adolescents through the Centres we have established,” he said.
He said the trainings equipped the nurses, midwives, and teachers with the requisite knowledge to enable them to impart same to adolescents in the beneficiary communities to improve on their sexual reproductive health.
“We know that some of the adolescents avoid the health facilities because of the attitude of some of the healthcare providers,” he noted.
For the teachers, Mr Nanang said they were trained on how to form and manage school clubs, so that pupils would share information on sexual and reproductive health with their colleagues outside their schools.
Mr Nanang called on stakeholders, especially parents to take interest in the sexual and reproductive health of their adolescents, insisting that “The education must start from home.
Dr Abdul-Rauf Sulemana, the Mamprugu-Moagduri District Director of the Ghana Health Service, expressed gratitude to Mabia-Ghana and the French Embassy in Ghana for collaborating to promote sexual reproductive health in the district, and gave the assurance that the Centres and equipment would be put to clever use.
Mr Caesar Wedam Avugu, the Adolescent Focal Person for the Yikpabongo CHPS zone, told the GNA that even though adolescents in the area visited the CHPS compound for services, they had no equipment and a convenient place to attend to them.
