COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE 2ND NATIONAL ADOLESCENT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SUMMIT HELD AT LA PALM HOTEL, ACCRA ON 29-30 AUGUST 2018

We Adolescents, Students, Young People, Persons with Disabilities, SRHR

Partners, Academics, Policy Makers, Adolescent and Youth SRHR advocates

at the 2nd National Adolescent Reproductive Health Summit held at the La

Palm Royal Beach Hotel, have discussed issues on Adolescent Sexual and

Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR) and how to increase funding for

ASRHR.

We reflected and noted the critical roles Government must play to ensure that

adolescent SRHR issues such as – facilitating innovations, sharing good

practices, generating local level solutions while scaling up initiatives in

partnerships with Government and other partners – receive the needed

attention and financial investment, and call for the following:

1. Government should adequately resource and also empower state

institutions responsible for adolescent sexual and reproductive health,

such as the National Population Council (NPC), the Ghana Health

Service (GHS), the National Youth Authority (NYA) and the School

Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the Ghana Education Service

(GES) to fulfil their mandates of coordinating ARH/Youth policies and

implementing ARH/Youth programmes respectively, to ensure

maximum and synergistic use of resources.

2. Government should expedite action on the integration of Family

Planning into the benefit package of the National Health Insurance

Scheme to remove the cost barrier for services, in order to promote use

of sexual and reproductive health services especially by adolescents

and young people.

3. We recognize the changing funding landscape and dwindling donor

support as a result of the middle income status of Ghana, leading to

gaps in ASRHR financing and call on Government through the Ministers

of Finance, Health, Education, Youth and Sports to ring-fence budgets

for adolescent health in their annual budgets to enable Ghana reap

demographic dividend.

4. Government, through the Minister of Education should expedite work on

the integration of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into the

school curriculum, as part of the ongoing review of the school

curriculum.

5. Government through the Minister of Education should expedite work on

the capacity building of teachers to effectively teach CSE, especially as

we go into universal free senior high school and double – track

education.

6. Parents, religious leaders and the media should support efforts by

Government to integrate CSE into the school curriculum and also clarify

values on adolescent sexuality.

7. Government, through the GES, GHS and NYA should expand the

establishment of adolescent/youth friendly corners and integrate them

into school based clinics, where sexual and reproductive health

information and services with the appropriate referral linkages can be

provided to all students, especially those who are sexually active.

8. Government, through the GES, GHS and NYA should promote school

health clubs into all junior and senior high schools and Technical and

Vocational Institutions in order to promote positive sexual and

reproductive health behavior, using the life course approach to

development, so that investments in early childhood is built on during

adolescence.

9. We recognize the need to include persons with disabilities, including all

young people in their diversity – to acknowledge their unique

differences and the need to work together to design programmes and

policies and strengthen existing ones to ensure a better future for the

country, continent and the globe.

10. We recognize the need to make all sexual and reproductive

health information and services accessible to persons with disabilities in

all their diversity, and call on Government through the Ministries of

Health and Education to invest in the capacity building of educators and

service providers in disability and related issues to facilitate access to

sexual and reproductive health information and services by persons

with disabilities.

11. The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Communications, the

National Youth Authority, Civil Society and NGOs should explore

opportunities to use technology, including social and digital media to

educate and provide accurate sexual and reproductive health

information to adolescents. This provides anonymity and confidentiality.

In this wise, we call on internet service providers and

telecommunication companies and the private sector to support this as

part of their contributions through their corporate social responsibility.

12. Government should invest in ASRHR Monitoring, Evaluation,

Research and Learning platforms, particularly for younger adolescents

aged 10-14yrs to help tailor sexual and reproductive health information

and services to their needs.

Issued in Accra, 30th August 2018

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