#HealthyAdolescent girls in the Great Lakes Region

With 1.8 billion adolescents globally, it is time that governments are held accountable.

Today, the world is witnessing an unprecedented youth population, with more young people than ever before. Despite this demographic advantage, a significant portion of today's 1.8 billion youth (ages 10-24) are not reaching their full potential due to the inadequacy of existing policies and investments in meeting their needs.

Africa has the world's youngest population with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30. In the region, over 226 million adolescents constitute the largest proportion of the global adolescent population. Thus, it is crucial to empower them to achieve their full potential by including young people in decision-making and providing opportunities for work and innovation which is key to achieving sustainable development goals. At EANNASO, we focus on realizing the 3rd SDG of "good health and well-being" with a sole focus on adolescent needs. Involving young people in politics and society is not just a question of inclusion but also vital for economic growth, innovation, peace, and security. But what does this mean in terms of access to healthcare commodities and services for adolescents?

In the past decisions and even global commitments such as protocols and treaties have seen discussions around adolescents take place with a virtual seat being reserved for adolescents. However, we are calling out to the African Governments to make the seat an actual one. It is time to give the adolescents the power to make decisions and be part of the solutions. We have a famous saying when it comes to the sexual reproductive and health rights of female adolescents “No decision for me without me”. This is to reiterate that to address ASRH, we need the A.

As the world recognizes the International Day of the Girl, we are calling out to the Great Lakes Region governments to recognize what it means to have ASRH services and commodities accessible, available, affordable and of quality. We need to have #HealthyAdolescents across the East African Community (EAC), across the Great Lakes Region, across Africa and Globally to be able to access adolescent-friendly SRH services. But when we talk about access, we need the 360-degree lens to be taken. Healthcare access is the ability to obtain healthcare services such as prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases, illnesses, disorders, and other health-impacting conditions.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” So, if health is a right, why are we not making it accessible, available, affordable and of quality to adolescents?

With the recent Maputo protocol turning 20 years, we need to take stock of what is working, what has worked and what needs to be improved on. We need to hold our governments accountable for the resources that they have set aside to implement the protocol.

This is why EANNASO together with other partners across the Great Lakes region are championing #HealthyAdolescents as the hashtag for the ongoing SHARP advocacy efforts. The Solutions for Supporting Healthy Adolescents and Rights Protection (SHARP) is a four-year project funded and supported by the European Union and it is currently in its second year. ?This project is being implemented in six countries:

- ? ? ? ?Tanzania by EANNASO

- ? ? ? ?Kenya by Faith to Action

- ? ? ? ?Burundi by ABS

- ? ? ? ?Rwanda by Rwanda NGO Forum

- ? ? ? ?DRC by CAFCO

- ? ? ? ?Zambia by MedRap

You can access more details about the SHARP project and partners here.

Lizzie Otaye

Communications Consultant and media contact

[email protected]

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