Provide Tech Health Solutions for Nigerian Youth

Phew! The year is coming to an end, but we are not tired. We keep fighting to reduce poor access to SRH information. 

The long-term impact of this project is to adequately inform and educate young people about their sexual and reproductive health in an easily accessible, yet culturally appropriate way, to enhance the overall health outcomes of this important population.

In this quarter we carried out several activities to reach adolescents and young people, this included holding a Facebook Live, edutainment, school outreaches and also responding to young people’s questions on the MyQuestion service.

We identified that reaching Adolescents and Young People (AYP) through outreaches enable us to provide access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) information to many AYP while also giving them access to the MyQuestion Service where they can speak to a counselor after the outreach. 

In one of the schools we visited, in FCT Abuja Nigeria, we reached 124 AYP with SRHR information to make healthy life choices. The AYPs were excited and appreciated the information that was shared. 

Some of the questions, myths and concerns AYP had were addressed. They included concerns around menstrual health and sexual violence.

“ what causes rape?”

“How to report a rape case?”

“Can a girl menstruate twice in a month”?

Sex/Age          10-14                15-19                 20-24                      TOTAL

FEMALE             26                     39                      1                             66

MALE                 26                      32                      0                             58

TOTAL               52                      71                      1                            124

Table 1: Number of AYP reached through outreach

Besides the questions that the young people asked during the outreached, they also reached out to counsellors one on one to ask other questions. 

In this quarter, July-September 2022, we responded to 1,686 questions from young people. 

Our next objective is to build and strengthen the capacity of more counsellors that would be available to respond to AYP's questions and to meet the demand of the increasing number of AYP we are reaching. 

We are grateful for your generous support.

The issues affecting adolescents and young people remain constant, ranging from lack of access to accurate information, low self esteem, peer pressure,etc. However, the dynamics of these issues have evolved in different areas. Adolescents are overwhelmed with the tasks of making the right decision at every point in time. These have led to an increase in cases of School Related Gender-Based Violence reported in recent times.  The MyQuestion Service team in partnership with appropriate school authority has been carrying out in-school sensitizations in the last quarter, to provide adolescents with information to develop life skills that will enable them to navigate through life and make healthy choices. Through this we link  the students to the MyQuestion non-judgmental, youth friendly services. 

In one of the schools we visited, the school authority had mentioned that there have been reported cases of  molestation, neglect and also lack of clear reporting channels. 

In line with our vision, to ensure that young people reach their full potentials and to protect them from all forms of violence the MyQuestion service team, visited the school where we provided the students with age approprate non-judgemental information on sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing.   After the session they were linked to our technology platform the  My question and answer Service platform where they could get accurate and non-judgmental answers to sexual reproductive health issues and other health related issues that affects adolescents and young people.  

At the end of the session, some students asked questions such as: 

“How can someone prevent teenage pregnancy apart from abstinence?” Female 16

“When someone is bullying you at home, who do you talk to?” Female 14

The counselors answered  many questions and still encouraged the students to share any concerns they have through our tech channels provided through the MyQuestion Services. A total of 2184 questions were responded to in the last quarter.

More and more adolescents and young people in Nigeria are being supported to make healthier choices because of your contributions.  Thank you our ever supportive donors!