Participation of the teenagers is essential

SolidarMed presented three projects at the annual Medicus Mundi conference on "From Innovation to Scale: Advancing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People" in Bern last week (April 24, 2024). Together with Nutsa Chikvaidze from Enfants du Monde - SolidarMed's partner organisation for the Adolecents' Health in Adolecents' Hands (AHA) project in Tanzania - Karolin Pfeiffer emphasised how important the participation of young people themselves is. The baseline study that preceded the project showed that young people want access to trustworthy health information, wish for an environment in which they can talk freely with adults and among themselves and need age-appropriate and respectful healthcare.

With participation of adolescents, good results were achieved in improving access to adolescent-friendly services and in sensitizing communities including parents. An innovative interactive training methodology for sexual and reproductive education is now being introduced through peer educators for in and out of school adolescents. Involving the village population and health facilities as well should promote the scaling of the project. Read more about the project AHA.

Michael A. Hobbins presented the SolidarMed project "Our Girl" in a bar talk. The aim of the project is to prevent girls from becoming accidentally pregnant and dropping out of school by directly improving the financial conditions of selected families in the village. The pilot project in Tanzania supported selected community health workers in setting up micro-enterprises. The income generated by these was split into three parts: One part went to the community health workers as salary, a second part supported further business developments and the third part was given as stipend to selected families with at least one teenage girl, with low social status and no financial means. The project contributed to the fact that all involved 23 girls remained in school, improved school performance, and were not married or pregnant during the 1.5 years of the project. Evidence clearly signals changes in behaviour and mindset in the families and the community. However, sustainability of the concept was seriously impacted by the missing entrepreneurial skills and mindset in the community health workers.

Zimbabwe’s Adolescent Health project , similar to the AHA project, also relies on adolescent engagement. Laura Ruckstuhl explained that the baseline survey for this project highlighted the young people’s desire for their own space to discuss health-related issues, receive healthcare specialised to their needs and have a voice in the community and healthcare facilities. This adolescent driven approach sparked the creation of Teen Health Information and Innovation Space (THiiS) community events.

The first THiiS event last autumn was a great success where awareness-raising on age-related health issues such as unwanted pregnancy or substance use - by peers and specialist professionals - was combined with entertainment such as football and music. SolidarMed will repeat the event quarterly in other communities. In addition, protected adolescent rooms are planned in healthcare facilities and a digital information hub will be set up. The project is both scalable, as the events can be adapted to the respective needs of the target group and region, and sustainable, by involving young people and communities.

Projects in Zambia, South Africa, India, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina were also presented at the conference. Peer educators were of particular interest in many approaches, whereby it was emphasized that the protection and support of these young people is of particular importance.

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