Adolescent and youth advocacy group, Curious Minds, with sponsorship from UNESCO has commenced a two-week training programme for youth volunteers in a bid to educate them on teenage pregnancy and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The training, dubbed “Our rights, Our lives, Our future” saw 30 youth volunteers from across the Central and Upper East regions, specifically Talensi-Nabdam and the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa districts, attending to be educated on the importance of adolescent reproductive health.
This programme, the organisers said, is necessary because it seeks to prevent the increasing number of teenage pregnancies, prevent HIV aids among the youth, stop gender base violence and child marriages before the close of the year 2020.
The two districts were chosen because of high teenage pregnancy rate there.
Chapter Clubs Officer of Curious Minds who also doubles as the project lead for the training session, Mr Edmund Agbeve, was of the view that young people are pivotal in the fight against teenage pregnancy and HIV hence the need to hold the training session.
“The aim is to get them, to understand the issues because we believe that young people form a critical component of resolving the issues of teenage pregnancy,” he said.
He also stated that the Central region was their focus for now because of the rising number of teenage pregnancy particular in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa district.
“We are starting from the Central region engaging young people from Asikuma Odoben Brakwa to become advocates within their own communities. It has become important for us to engage these young people to halt and revers the incidents of teenage pregnancy and STIs in the district” Mr Agbeve indicated.
One of the participants, Comfort indicated she has benefited greatly from the workshop, which she said will aid her in managing her menstrual cycle.
“I have benefited greatly from this training workshop. I have learnt how to properly take care of myself before, during and after menstruation. I have also learnt how to provide support and a listening ear to my peers as well as appropriately refer them to health facilities for comprehensive health care and professional counseling” she said.
The training session which took place in the Upper East Region.
By 3news.com|Ghana