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Government at all levels have been charged to develop policies that will inculcate comprehensive sexual education in Nigerian schools to stem the growing number of unintended pregnancies among adolescent girls (15–19 years) across the country.
Survey and statistics shows that in Nigeria, an estimated 23 percent of adolescent girls aged 15-19 years have begun childbearing, of which 17 percent have had their first child and 5 percent are pregnant with their first child.
To address the anomaly, a non-governmental organisation, HACEY on Thursday commenced a two-day training for students of tertiary institutions in Ondo State to equip them as youth champions with practical digital media skills for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) advocacy.
The Programme Manager, HACEY, Olumuyiwa Olubukola while speaking at the event held in Akure the Ondo State capital said the essence of the campaign was to provide accessible, accurate, inclusive, and positive information to children and adolescents.
She noted that the rampant early pregnancies, HIV, abortion rate amongst adolescents needed to be addressed by the government and all stakeholders.
Olubukola who emphasised that adolescent pregnancy and childbearing have been debated as a “crisis” said “the training was implemented by HACEY simultaneously in Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ekiti and Ondo with 60 participants from each state.”
Her words: “For Ondo state, the participants were picked from the Federal University of Technology, Akure; University of Sciences Teaching Hospital UNIMETH, Ondo; Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko and Adeyemi University of Education, Ondo.”
Olubukola, who noted that 32 percent of teenagers in rural areas have begun childbearing, as opposed to 10 percent in the urban areas of Nigeria, said the training was designed to equip youth champions with practical digital media skills for SRHR advocacy.
“The rampant early pregnancies, HIV, abortion rate amongst adolescents birthed the initiative. Instead of looking at the services part, we decided to look at awareness, ensuring that adequate and accurate information is disseminated. Ensuring that the youths have access to the right information.
A development specialist and facilitator for the Programme, Martin-Mary Falana identified the barriers to advancing sexual and Reproductive Health to include lack of proper sensitisation, peer group, poverty, drug abuse, fear of parents or community, negative attitudes of health workers, socio-economic, socio-cultural among others.
Falana also said governments lacked the will to drive the policies that will inculcate sexual education in school curriculum.
Meanwhile, the event featured hands-on activities where young people will develop their own advocacy campaigns using digital tools and social media platforms.