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Happy reading!
“Young people embody our hopes for Change”
The transition from childhood to adulthood is such a complex period. Usually, it comes with a bunch load of stuffs we are not really used to and have never experienced as children. Let’s just say that it is an era of great change – physical, emotional, psychological and even intellectual. So, it is not really surprising that adolescents and young people experience major altercations in their physical, sexual and mental health as they head towards becoming adults.
“Young people are eager, resilient and open to Change – Yes, You Are!
Here’s the challenge…
More complicating at this stage of life is the fact that millions of young people – more particularly, young women – lack basic education, adequate skills and job training, job opportunities and health services, which as expected effectively limits their bright futures at such an early stage of life…young people may end up reacting to these issues by unleashing and getting involved with risky, unhealthy and harmful behaviours that could endanger their lives and their societies at large.
Whether you’re going to believe it or not…So many young persons out there are sexually active and they suffer the highest rates from HIV/AIDS and other STIs. That’s some whole bunch of scary bad news, Right?…Pheww, Yes, it is!
Now, I don’t want to sound like your mother, but you should keep that at the back of your mind and avoid adding to the numbers!
“You know what they say about knowledge – Knowledge is truly Power”
As much as you’re concerned, our team is concerned too! And that’s why we are passionate about addressing the health needs of adolescents and young people. So, how do we do this? Our team engages young people through HIV workshops and HIV youth clubs. We empower young people with HIV information, education and behaviour change communication.
During these HIV workshops, we address young people’s knowledge, attitudes, skills and intentions related to SRH and provide them with appropriate information and opportunities to develop skills that support responsible, safe behaviours.
“…that ignorance may fail to thrive amongst our young people”
Well, that’s not all that happens during our workshops…I’ll tell you more!
During our workshops, adolescents and young people learn how their bodies, minds and feelings change. They learn about puberty, menstruation, puberty, pregnancy, HIV and STIs and more importantly, Abstinence – very important stuff.
“The strength for change in today’s world is the strength of the hopes and ambitions of today’s youth”
They also learn how to communicate, negotiate and make good decisions as well as manage and negotiate social, peer and partner pressures. They also learn about gender-equitable attitudes and behaviours and how to make positive alternatives for harmful gender roles.
Well, you know now that young people are also sexually active (You can imagine a 13 year old somewhere in Nigeria, a mother with kids – As awful as this sounds, it’s true for many young girls), and so we help them learn how to avoid unintended pregnancies and reduce their risk of HIV/AIDS amongst other STIs.
“Studies have shown that people who have grown up with accurate information about sex tend to make responsible choices…”
You may be wondering – Why the teaching teaching teaching?
Well, we believe that young people with age-appropriate, culturally relevant and scientifically accurate information are able to make good and informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, develop values and attitudes compatible with health goals, and the skills to behave in conformity with their knowledge and values.
Wow…You made it to the end! What are your thoughts about our post? Kindly, share them with us below!