EASTERN and Southern Africa region (Esar)’s governments have pledged to prioritise the welfare of adolescents and young people through the provision of tailormade youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services.
Representatives from countries from the region made the commitment during a regional engagement on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health services access meeting convened by Hivos in Harare recently.
Hivos is an international development organisation that contributes towards just, inclusive and life-sustaining societies where people have equal access to opportunities, rights and resources.
Despite facing a plethora of challenges, governments said they were working on improving and promoting adolescent access to SRHR services.
Twaambo Mutinta, a Zambian politician and legislator for Itezhi-Tezhi, said this was one way of taking the girls away from the streets and back in school.
“The government is constructing about 121 boarding facilities. One of the challenges facing the Zambian youth is staying in boarding facilities where they are not protected and where there are a lot of safeguarding issues,” he said.
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“So, as the government we will continue with some of these interventions around securing where the young people stay when they go to boarding houses.”
Mutinta said in an attempt to avoid some of the vices that contribute to the challenges that the young people face, there was the recruitment of over 11 400 youth staff in health institutions.
Magret Ayebare from Uganda implored other countries to copy what her country has done and give women spaces, especially the decision-making spaces.
“Uganda has embraced gender equality. Look at how even in leadership in Uganda (is), Vice-President being a lady, Prime Minister a lady, Speaker of Parliament a lady, and some women are in other ministries,” she said.
“We have realised that some of the issues, especially to do with maternal health, touch mostly the hearts of women. We need women in this movement and struggle.
“We need to include lawyers in our spaces who can interpret the laws for us because as the youths, house workers, even executive directors of some of the organisations, we do not know these laws.”
Health and Child Care reproductive health deputy director Lucia Gondongwe said the Zimbabwean government had promised to consider adolescents and young people when developing policies for them and let them have a voice which represents.
The meeting, which drew lawmakers from Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, was aimed at developing strategies to overcome age-related barriers preventing young people from accessing sexual and reproductive health services.
Hivos regional director Nana Zulu said there was a need for the development of a regional action plan and review of key messages for improving SRHR services.