HLI concludes competition on sexual and reproductive health

Funded by the Dutch Embassy in Dakar, the quiz, essay, debate and exhibition brought together 20 schools from each region. The winners were awarded at the end of the competition. The project started in 2022. It also trained teachers, peer-to-peer or ambassadors, community leaders and policy makers and culminated with an inter-school debate, quiz and essay competition designed to test the knowledge of students in the target schools.

The aim of the quiz was to bring out the knowledge and skills of the students through extensive participation in the competition. The pulse and knowledge of the students of each school were tested to strengthen the cooperation of the various institutions in the district such as MOH, GFPA, NGOs and others.

In addition, it should help to set a new course in the provision of ASRHR services and improve the capacity and specialisation of schools so that they can strictly protect students’ right to information.
Joseph Idigba Awuru, Executive Director of Hope Life International (HLI), explained that the aim of the project is to address the critical information needs of youth in recipient schools on reproductive, sexuality and HIV/AIDS issues in line with the relevant Gambian national SRH policy and international agreements and conventions, and to initiate broad-based consultation on adolescent reproductive and sexual health issues to enable youth to achieve the highest standards for their own health and for the future.

Mr Awuru added that the project also aims to provide comprehensive education and information on reproductive health and sexuality to youth at school to enable them to make healthier choices, resist negative pressures and avoid risky behaviour.

He added that the aim is also to create a safe and supportive environment for school-age youth to exercise their right to information, education and services that enable them to reach their full potential.
He also said that the overall strategy of the project is to educate and empower the youth population in schools to exercise their right to information and education on reproduction, sexuality and HIV and AIDS prevention. In addition, it aims to promote counselling on important aspects of adolescent reproductive health and rights.

Regional education authorities in different regions who graced the event expressed their joy at the initiative and praised the organizers, also expressing their hope that the project will be expanded throughout the country.

According to the ICPD Programme of Action, paragraph 7.2)1, it states: “Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity in all respects concerning the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore means that people can lead satisfying and safe sex lives and have the capacity to reproduce and the freedom to choose whether, when and how often to do so. This last condition implies the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as to other methods of fertility regulation of their choice that do not contravene the law, and the right to access appropriate health services that enable women to safely manage pregnancy and childbirth and give couples the best chance of having a healthy child…”