Savana Signatures has trained some student leaders in the Northern Region on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) issues as part of efforts to empower them to lead responsible lifestyles.

The training formed part of the Sexual Health Education Plus (SHE+) project being implemented by Savana Signatures, an Information Communication Technology (ICT) focused organization based in Tamale, to contribute to improving SRHR situation of young people aged 12 – 24 years and young adults in the Region.

Participants were selected from Tamale College of Education, Tamale Polytechnic, Nurses and Midwifery Training College, Tamale, and School of Hygiene, Tamale.

The SHE+ project, sponsored by Simavi, a Dutch-based organization, is a mobile-based platform, which allows users to have easy access to information from health professionals on SRHR issues and needs.

Mr Abdul-Rashid Imoro, Programme Manager of Savana Signatures, who made a presentation on the project during the training session in Tamale, said young people lacked adequate information on SRHR issues thereby indulging in lifestyles that affected their development, hence the initiation of the SHE+ project.

Mr Imoro said under the project, dedicated phone lines of health professionals had been provided for young people to text to or call to receive adequate SRHR information to inform their lifestyles.

He expressed “Need for investment in young people’s assets and protection factors instead of moralizing issues and warning them.”

Participants identified issues such as unintended pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion and associated complications, inappropriate use of contraceptives as some of the SRHR issues that young people grappled with.

Ms Mohammed Mey Rahama, a student from the Nurses and Midwifery Training College in Tamale, who was a participant, expressed the need for peer groups and experts to talk to young people on such issues to enable them to lead responsible lifestyles.

Chief Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, Northern Regional Population Officer, spoke against early and forced marriages and urged the youth, who could not abstain from sexual intercourse, to always use condoms to protect themselves.

Mr Kenneth Danuo, National Programme Coordinator of Access Services Knowledge (ASK) programme, urged young people to continually seek clarifications on SRHR issues to empower themselves.