Afrigather Accra, Ghana – The well being and wellbeing of adolescents play a essential position of their total development and improvement. Nevertheless, the shortage of complete native information on adolescent well being, significantly in lower-resource settings is hampering efforts to advertise wholesome behaviors and insurance policies for adolescents, particularly these in colleges.
To fill this hole and generate new information and knowledge, World Well being Group (WHO) with help from Botnar Basis is implementing a venture dubbed “Empowering adolescents to guide change utilizing well being information” with the goal of producing adolescent well being info from college students in cities throughout 4 low- and middle-income nations, comprising Fez, Morocco; Jaipur, India; Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica; and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana.
This initiative leveraged current WHO instruments such because the International College-based Pupil Well being Survey (GSHS) to evaluate well being behaviours and protecting elements amongst college students, and the International College Well being Insurance policies and Practices Survey (G-SHPPS) to evaluate college insurance policies that promote the well being of scholars.
In Ghana, this initiative, which is being applied in partnership with the Ghana Well being Service and the Ghana Training Service has empowered adolescents within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis to have a voice on their well being wants and contribute to growing sustainable options in direction of overcoming well being obstacles.
“Beforehand, my mates and I solely mentioned a few of these challenges amongst ourselves in secret,” stated Samuel Quayson, a 15 yr previous pupil on the Nana Badu Bonso Junior Excessive College in Takoradi. “I’m comfortable that for the primary time, we had a chance to voice it out by means of the surveys that had been carried out and now we’re being concerned in discussions with choice makers.”
Findings from the research that had been carried out revealed vital psychological well being challenges amongst adolescents, with 1 / 4 of the scholars surveyed reporting to have tried suicide. The scholars additionally recognized home violence college bullying and cyberbullying as a few of the challenges affecting their well being and wellbeing.
All through the method, WHO supplied monetary and technical help to coach 25 information collectors. WHO in partnership with UNESCO and the College of Bern additionally convened a data-to-action workshop to interact stakeholders, together with college students, Heads of Colleges and others on leveraging the findings to implement interventions for improved well being outcomes of adolescents.
College well being authorities within the Western Area described the findings as vital to ongoing efforts to enhance adolescent well being.
“Certainly, by means of this initiative, WHO didn’t solely assist us to understand the challenges but additionally how we will collaborate to beat them,” stated Ruth Adu, the Western Regional College Well being Training Programme Coordinator “It will have far-reaching implications for school-based adolescent well being across the nation.”
Dr Joana Ansong, the Noncommunicable Illness and Danger Elements Officer at WHO Ghana agreed, noting that the importance of this initiative transcends the boundaries of the colleges that had been surveyed.
“As WHO, we’re concerned about utilizing the data from the scholars to co-create with companions, implement and subsequently consider a package deal of interventions to enhance well being outcomes of adolescents,” she acknowledged.
While Victoria Celine Ntem, a 13-year-old pupil on the Takoradi Presbyterian Junior Excessive College is fearful concerning the findings of the research, she is comfortable to have mentioned this with choice makers and can do her half to advertise wholesome behaviors amongst her friends.
“I knew of a few of these challenges, however findings on suicide makes an attempt and psychological well being actually scares me,” she stated. “Although our academics and oldsters have dedicated to addressing them, I can be speaking to my mates about them in order that we will help one another to beat these challenges”.
