The Adamawa State Government, in support of the EU, has set up a machinery to train adolescent girls on how to manufacture usable menstrual pads.
The EU – SARAH Focal Person in Adamawa State, Mr Ahmed Yero, disclosed this during the EU-SARAH Initiative media tour at the Hajiya Lami Ahmadu Fintiri PHC Clinic in Jambutu, Yola, on Wednesday.
Ahmed Yero explained that the essence of the training will help adolescents not to purchase menstrual pads on a monthly basis and will enable them to produce it themselves without much financial commitment.
He opined that with the introduction of “Strengthening Access to Reproductive and Adolescent Health” (SARAH), youths in the State now move freely into primary health facilities and seek services without hindrances.
In an interview, Mr Oluseyi Olosunde, UNICEF Health Officer in the State, stressed that “sexual Reproductive health is not fully about infectious disease, it’s about holistic well-being of the adolescent”.
Mr Oluseyi Olosunde’s adolescents have the right to quality information on health, and one of the barriers to accessing adolescent health has been their privacy, as well as the attitude of health workers who lack the capacity, skills and emotional composure to support adolescents in accessing services.
However, with the training of health workers in this direction, adolescents can visit any health facilities without fear of being stigmatised, ashamed, or even be bold enough to talk to the service provider and access services.
In some cases, “their assumptions to visit health facilities are that it may be pregnancy or she has an infection, and with that fear in their minds, they die in silence”, he said.
On why UNICEF is giving much attention in adolescent, Mr Olosunde noted that “adolescent is the platform we paid less attention to before, and I want to emphasise that teenage pregnancy is a challenge among us”.
The survey in Nigeria also indicated that “these age groups that get pregnant are contributing to the maternal mortality in the country, and for that reason they must be protected “.
UNICEF wants every adolescent to access their information about their sexuality and development, not only health, but holistic development, menstrual hygiene and information about pregnancy, he advised.
