The Ebonyi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, in collaboration with the State Universal Basic Education Board, has trained over 50 health officers-in-charge of primary healthcare centres in the state on skills for rendering adolescent and youth friendly health services.
The training was part of activities funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization under its 03 Project in Nigeria.
The project is aimed at creating demand for positive health seeking behaviour among in-school and out-of-school adolescents.
Its implementation in Ebonyi State is led by a civil society organization, GirlUp Africa, commissioned by UNESCO.
The training was held Wednesday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
The Technical Lead for the project implementation in Ebonyi State, Chikaodi Omokide, explained that the training was initiated to fill the gap created by the scarcity of exclusive youth-friendly centres across the state.
She noted that the project seeks the linkage of schools to nearby primary healthcare centres in various communities across the 10 focal local government areas in the state where in-school and out-of-school adolescents can easily access sexual, reproductive and other friendly health services.
Omokide, who is also the Executive Director, GirlUp Africa, added that the training was to equip the OICs with the requisite skills and knowledge to give the right information in the right manner to the young people.
Omokide stressed: “Looking at very scarce youth friendly centres within the communities and the enormous need to have young persons and adolescents, especially in-school and out of school adolescents access factual information about their reproduce health, there is the need to have youth friendly services accorded them.
“But because we have very few youth friendly centres, the project seeks to link schools to various health centres in the communities.
“Virtually every community in the state has a functional primary health centre, and we saw the need to train these health workers to fill those gaps.”
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Omokide expressed gratitude to Ebonyi State government, Better Health for Rural Women and Internally Displaced Persons Foundation, a pet project of the wife of the Governor, as well as other partners for enabling the training.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Emeka Ovuoba, described adolescent age as a stage of many crisis in human growth and development, including emotional, psychological and physical turbulence.
He noted that linking the schools to primary healthcare facilities necessitated the collaboration between the Agency and the SUBEB to properly equip the frontline health workers with the requisite skills through the training.
He added that the trainees would also be visiting basic schools to sensitize the young people on issues surrounding their sexual and reproductive health.
Ovuoba described the training as a welcome development in Ebonyi state and urged the participants to step down the knowledge to others in the various facilities within their communities.
“If they have the right information, they will be able to pass same right information to the client that will come to them, so doing majority of health workers will be equipped with the capacity to help our young people”, Ovuoba emphasized.
The Executive Secretary further committed that his Agency would ensure the sustainability of the programme in the state through budgetary provision and effective supervision of the OICs and other primary healthcare workers.
Some of the trainees, including Ebere John, Victoria Okeh and Martha Ugwu expressed gratitude to UNESCO and her partners for initiating the training, stating that it has tremendously improved their knowledge and skills to effectively handle issues concerning youths and adolescents.
