The right to sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people constitutes a fundamental right for the development and well-being of young people.
The phenomenon of early marriage is another major concern for a large number of adolescent girls around the world. More than a third of women aged 20 to 24 in low- and middle-income countries are married before the age of 18 and almost 12% before the age of 15. Early marriages constitute a violation of children's rights in general and the rights of adolescents in particular.
Faced with the harmful consequences of early pregnancies and marriages, the vulnerability of young people to STIs/HIV, and harm to the sexuality and lives of young people, the Togolese State has, for several years, taken legal and institutional measures for the protection of children in general and adolescents in particular, including the National Program to Combat Early Pregnancy and the National Policy for Youth Involvement in HIV/AIDS. But, despite these efforts, progress is not always visible and the health of adolescents and young people remains weakened by pregnancies, early marriages and STIs/HIV.
In view of this situation, our organization working for the well-being of adolescents and young people has designed and implemented with its partners micro-campaign projects and the provision of integrated services among young people and adolescents, coupled with the free distribution of condoms in school and out of school settings. These projects focus on themes such as: keeping adolescent girls in school; adolescence and early pregnancies; STIs-HIV/AIDS; adolescence and decent work in the informal sector; ICT in SSRAJ; GBV/FGM, family planning etc….
Thus, activities offering integrated services to young people and adolescents such as: the importance of HIV counseling/testing, prevention of STI cases, family planning, the fight against early and unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions and early motherhood are part of our awareness campaign activities. This primarily concerns adolescents aged 15 to 19, but also their parents, community and religious leaders and local authorities.
Since 2016, we have been organizing, with the technical support of the CSO/HIV platform in Togo and funding from UNFPA, awareness-raising activities and integrated service offerings to young people and adolescents in school and out-of-school settings. These include activities to offer integrated awareness-raising services, promotion and distribution of condoms, syndromic management of STIs, HIV screening and family planning for young people and adolescents ( tes) from 10 to 24 years old and other target from 25 to 45 years old. These activities are carried out in collaboration with health facility providers under the supervision of the health districts, the SP/CNLS and the PNLS.
For years, we have been organizing awareness campaigns and service offerings to prevent early and unwanted pregnancies among secondary, university and extracurricular students. We have integrated family planning services into our service offerings to enable girls to sexually active and of childbearing age to remain in school.
These campaigns make it possible to :
To contribute to the reduction of early and unwanted pregnancies and STIs/HIV through behavioral change among young people aged 10 to 24, coupled with the offer of integrated services and advocating for a physical, legal, social environment, economic and cultural in favor of young girl mothers victims of cases of early and unwanted pregnancies in the Maritime and plateaux regions of Togo.
In order to allow young people from urban and rural areas to have access to SSRAJ services, the LE RESPONSABLE Association for the well-being of adolescents and young people has designed a project to mobilize young people in urban and peri-urban areas on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health of Adolescents and Young People entitled PHASE I of the project: “IMPROVEMENT OF THE OFFER OF SR/FP/STI/HIV SERVICES TO ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN URBAN AND PERI-URBAN ENVIRONMENTS” and which had been carried out for a period of 3 years (2016 – 2018) with funding from UNFPA and technical support from the CSO-HIV and Health Promotion platform in Togo for PHASE I of the project.
This project emphasized the importance of HIV counseling/testing, STI cases, family planning, early and unwanted pregnancies, early motherhood and induced abortion, PMTCT and education complete sexual orientation for adolescents and young people aged 10 to 35 and very particular attention will be paid to young girl mothers who are victims of early and unwanted pregnancies in order to benefit from a physical, legal, social, economic and cultural environment. It is within this framework that campaigns to mobilize young people will be organized to promote their right to reproductive health.
Since 2012, CSOs under the coordination of the CSO-HIV Platform have been carrying out integrated SRH/HIV activities in the maritime and Savanes regions. An evaluation of these interventions carried out in 2016 shows an improvement in access to services but mixed results in terms of improving knowledge. It is therefore important to breathe new life into the micro-projects implemented in UNFPA concentration zones for adolescents and young people. In order to prevent early pregnancies and their corollaries among young people in school and out of school, UNFPA provides support to Young Leaders International Organization For Peace & Sustainable Development, Inc. for the organization of awareness and offer campaigns family planning and STI treatment services and HIV testing advice in the Lomé commune and maritime regions to improve the knowledge of at least 44,600 young people on sexual and reproductive health issues (causes, the consequences of early pregnancies, menstrual cycle, violence, STIs/HIV) and ways to prevent them; Offer FP methods to at least 2,900 adolescents and young people; Ensure the treatment of 4,350 cases of STIs using the syndromic approach; Offer screening to at least 16,200 young people, at least 60% of whom are girls; Raise awareness among young people about the menstrual cycle; Demonstrate the correct use of the male condom and the female condom; Offer free RH services: screening and management of STI cases using the syndromic approach, HIV screening advice, provision of modern and natural methods of contraception to young people and adolescents aged 15-24, including condoms.
The primary targets of the interventions are adolescents and young people aged 10-24 in the intervention area. These are secondary school students, apprentices, single mothers or households, young people in the informal sector, etc.; These are school and extracurricular young people from sites previously validated with CSOs. The number of boys and girls from each beneficiary site must be available before the start of the campaign. Secondary targets: parents, community leaders, CVDs, organized groups constitute the indirect beneficiaries and should constitute the support of CSOs on the ground.
Faced with the harmful consequences of early pregnancies and marriages, the vulnerability of young people to STIs/HIV, and harm to the sexuality and lives of young people, the Togolese State has, for several years, taken legal and institutional measures for the protection children in general, adolescents and young people in particular, including the National Program to combat early pregnancies and the national policy for involving young people in matters of HIV/AIDS. But, despite these efforts, progress is not always visible and the health of Togolese adolescents and young people remains weakened by early pregnancies and marriages and STIs/HIV.
In view of this situation, Young Leaders International Organization For Peace & Sustainable Development, Inc. for the well-being of adolescents and young people designed a project to mobilize young people and adolescent girls in rural areas on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health of young mothers entitled: “EMPOWERMENT OF YOUNG FEMALE MOTHERS FOR THE PROMOTION OF THEIR RIGHTS IN THE MATTER OF SEXUAL HEALTH AND REPRODUCTION IN TOGO”. This project will emphasize the importance of HIV counseling/testing, STI cases, family planning, early and unwanted pregnancies, early motherhood and induced abortion, promotion of literacy, sexual and social education, family economics and mutual respect between young people of both sexes for the benefit of adolescent girls and young mothers.
It is in this context that a mobilization campaign for young mothers and their partners will be organized to promote their right to reproductive health through the clubs for young mothers which will be set up by the project.
This project contributed to improving the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people in the Maritime region of Togo in order to: Strengthen by 2020 the capacities of the Rênes Mères and the clubs of young mothers to influence the authorities and decision-makers to ensure that adolescent and young mothers have their rights and access to quality sexual and reproductive health services; Improve the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescent and young mothers, for their access to the use of sexual and reproductive health services by 2020; Promote the family economy of young mothers and club members with a view to providing them with socio-economic education based on a family education approach for a healthy couple life by 2020; Ensure the promotion of a physical, political, legal, social, economic and cultural environment in favor of young mothers and adolescents and by promoting an approach with their partners by 2020.
The phenomenon of early marriage is another major concern for a large number of adolescent girls in Togo. More than a third of women ages 20 to 24 in our low- and middle-income communities are married before age 18 and nearly 12% before age 15. Early marriages constitute a violation of women's rights in general and the rights of adolescents in particular.
In Togo, 30.7% of young people aged 10 to 24 are not immune to the phenomena of early pregnancies and marriages. The early pregnancy rate in Togo is 17% and in some regions the rate is as high as 25%. These pregnancies most often result in school dropout and, in the worst cases, in disability or loss of human life, often caused by induced abortions carried out in clandestine conditions. As for early marriages, almost a third of women between 15 and 49 years old in Togo married or entered into a common-law union before the age of 18. Furthermore, 7% of these women were married before the age of 15.
In view of this situation and to contribute to reducing the HIV prevalence rate among young people in rural areas in terms of the sexual health of young people and adolescents, Young Leaders International Organization For Peace & Sustainable Development, Inc. has designed a project community mobilization of young people in rural areas entitled: “AWARENESS AND DISTRIBUTION OF COMMUNITY-BASED CONDOMS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV/AIDS IN RURAL ENVIRONMENTS IN 05 CANTONS OF THE MARITIME REGION” as part of the execution of awareness-raising activities In a rural area. This project will emphasize the importance of HIV counseling/testing, STI cases, family planning, early and unwanted pregnancies, early motherhood and induced abortion, sex education and mutual respect between couples of both sexes in favor of young people and women. It is in this context that awareness-raising activities for the community-based distribution of condoms will be organized to ensure the promotion of FP for young people and the correct wearing of condoms.
