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This was said on Wednesday this week here by the Minister for Health and Social Welfare in Tanzania Dr Seif Rashid when giving Tanzania experience on promoting increased attention to the specific needs of adolescent girls to achieve health and well being and hence achieve the future a gild child deserves.
According to the Minister young women aged 15-24 in Tanzania account for 45% of HIV infections while young men of the same age account for 26% of new HIV infections.
That being the case Dr Rashid said, adolescents have been prioritised in the new country Health Sector Strategic Plan of 2015- 2020 and Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health (RMNCH) strategic plan for 2016-2020.
“Prior to this Tanzania’s efforts on addressing adolescents issues were guided by the adolescent health strategy of 2011-2015,” Dr Rashid told the audience.
Adolescence, according to the Minister, is a period of rapid physical and emotional growth, and for many, a risk-taking period which often results in reproductive health problems such as unwanted pregnancies, HIV, and unsafe abortions. In Tanzania, Dr Rashid said, young people constitute 31% of the total population.
Adolescence, according to the Minister, is a period of rapid physical and emotional growth, and for many, a risk-taking period which often results in reproductive health problems such as unwanted pregnancies, HIV, and unsafe abortions. In Tanzania, Dr Rashid said, young people constitute 31% of the total population.
“Despite government efforts, adolescents and youth in Tanzania are still experiencing a challenging health situation,” he pointed out, adding that national studies showed that by the age between 15 and 19 years, 45% of females have already had sex, eighteen per cent of adolescents girls aged 15-19 are married and the fertility rate in that age group is 116 per 1000.
According to the Minister by age 19 years, 23% have started childbearing and 44% are either mothers or pregnant. The contraceptive prevalence rate for modern methods is 12% in women aged 15-24 years and unmet need for contraceptives is 16% in adolescents aged 15-19 years.
Sharing further experience the Minister told the audience that among other progress made by Tanzania on addressing adolescent sexual reproductive issues are that the country has established an Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) Programme within Reproductive and Child Health Section in the Ministry of Health that oversees the programming activities for adolescent health in the country.
To guide the implementation and provision of ARH services Tanzania has adolescent reproductive health strategy which aims at improving advocacy, access to information, education and quality services for adolescents and ensure conducive policy environment for adolescent services.
He said adolescent reproductive health advocacy packages for political leaders and technical staff at various levels in the country’s regions have been developed and rolled out to raise awareness on the importance of adolescent health.
Adolescent reproductive health guidelines are followed during training of health care providers to enable them provide “Adolescent/youth friendly services including access to contraceptives, according to the Minister.
The Minister said standards of care have also been developed in order to monitor the quality of care provided. According to available 2010 data Dr Rashid said, 30% of health facilities in Tanzania are providing Adolescent Friendly Sexual Reproductive Health services, but the plan between 2016-2020 is to increase coverage of this service especially in the rural areas where 70% of adolescents reside.
To increase community access, peer educators are being trained using standard national guidelines.
Talking about collaboration with non state actors the Minister said, in collaboration with Non-Governmental Organisations Tanzania has established community based youth centres offering Adolescent Friendly Sexual Reproductive Health, information & services as well as sports and other creative activities, though most of them are in urban areas.
“There cannot be success in any endeavour without community engagement,” said the Minister when responding to a question from Katy Woods from White Ribbon Alliance Global Secretariat which sought the Minister’s opinion on community engagement.
Betsy McCallon, Chief Executive Officer Global White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, told The Guardian here that they are pleased to hear that citizen engagement, youth participation and accountability are given prominence at this 68th World Health Assembly (WHA).
“However, these are often talked about as principles or distinct activities, we need to move the conversation to recognition that these elements are essential for progress on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health,” McCallon emphasised.
The session aimed at providing concrete actions of the country case in order to stimulate and inspire participants to try such interventions in their own countries
It discussed success factors in ensuring that adolescents obtain the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services they need, delivered in friendly and non-judgmental manner.
The WHA is the supreme decision making body of World Health Organisation (WHO). It is attended by delegations from all WHO member states. Its main functions are to determine the policies of the organisation, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget, it is held annually in Geneva Switzerland. The WHA ends on May 26.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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