By Yunus S Saliu
The principal investigator for the strengthening access to quality comprehensive health education for in-and-out of school adolescents’ project has emphasized that young Gambians are continuously exposed to sexual and reproductive health challenges.
Ms Phebian Ina Grant-Sagnia delivering speech at the launching ceremony of the Comprehensive Health Education (CHE) held at the Arch 22nd recently highlighted the challenges which include high cases of early marriages; teenage pregnancy; sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS; sexual and gender-based violence.
In the last decades, she said sexuality education has been a controversial issue in The Gambia “often portraying inaccurate information about sexuality through mass media outlets and traditional beliefs.”
She therefore described the introduction of the CHE as a blueprint in guiding teaching of age appropriate, cultural and religious sensitive sexuality education in schools and communities, with the aim of strengthening access to quality comprehensive health education for adolescents in and out-of-school by designing and implementing school and community-based interventions.
“School and community-based comprehensive health education plays a vital role in promoting the health and well-being of children and adolescents, presently and in their future,” she noted.
Giving the background of the project, she said it involved the conduct of research in forty-three schools which includes both upper and senior secondary schools comprising boys and girls between the age of 15 to 19 years and out of school adolescents in 28 wards from Banjul to Abuko.
To date, she disclosed, the project research findings revealed that adolescent-parent communication about sexual and reproductive health issues including discussions on menstruation, prevention of pregnancy and contraceptive is limited.
Among the factors found responsible for the limited adolescent-parent communication about sexual and reproductive health issues are “mostly cultural, due to shame and shyness but also to the competing social responsibilities of parents as breadwinners,” she explained.
Also, she explained further, that prevention of pregnancy and not STIs mostly drives the use of condoms among boys and girls because pregnancy out-of –wedlock is frown upon and deemed socially unaccelptable.
The challenges related to the implementation of CHE includes “lack of coordination across various implementing agencies of sexual and reproductive health programs; funding gaps for sexual and reproductive health programs; policy restrictions and societal norms that perceived discussions on sexual and reproductive health issues as highly culturally sensitive.
The principal investigator went further on related challenges to the implementation in the school system, pointing out inadequate teaching hours spent on sexual and reproductive health topics; limited stakeholders participation in curriculum development; inadequate adaptation and monitoring and supervision of existing frameworks on comprehensive health education and limited teacher training on sexual and reproductive health issues.
However, Strengthening Access to Quality Comprehensive Health Education in The Gambia is an implementation research project done by Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, funded by International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
The launching was presided over by the First Lady Her Excellency Fatoumata Bah-Barrow and was attended by many dignitaries which such as Minister of Youth and Sport, Honorable Bakary Badjie; Minister of Health Dr Lamin Samateh; Deputy Permanent Secretary representing the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Honorable Claudiana Cole, Deputy Mayor of Banjul Omar BS Touray, counselors, parliamentarians, school principals, religious and community leaders, teachers and students among others. And it was commemorated with match-pass, drama among other activities.
