Sterling One Foundation partners JICA to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria

The Sterling One Foundation has formed a partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to enhance adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) supported the partnership, which began with a two-day sensitisation workshop in Abuja.

The workshop was designed to educate health workers, such as nurses, midwives, and members of the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme from Karu LGA, Nasarawa State, on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

The age-specific fertility rate for women aged 15 to 19 in Nigeria is around 106 per 1000, and it is even higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Unfortunately, early childbearing is associated with increased complications during pregnancy and childbirth and a higher neonatal mortality rate. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (’16-’17), 19.2 per cent of young women aged 15–19 had started having children, and 3.1 per cent of women gave birth before they were 15.

The Sterling One Foundation CEO, Mrs Olapeju Ibekwe, said that the partnership was a crucial part of healthcare reform in Nigeria, and the Foundation’s goal is to make quality healthcare more accessible. Ibekwe also explained that the partnership would improve the efficiency of health workers, which would, in turn, enhance the quality of life of the people they serve.

JICA’s Lead Officer for Health Programmes, Ajibike Adewole, expressed delight at the success of the workshop, stating that the results and learning from this pilot workshop would be used to improve the NPHCDA’s program training curriculum to ensure real impact. JICA hopes the workshops under this partnership can help cut down on the over 200,000 unplanned births attributed to teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19, especially in Northern Nigeria.

The workshop featured sessions on pregnancy prevention, contraceptives, prevention of sexually transmitted infections in adolescents, personal hygiene, and general adolescent-friendly healthcare delivery. The emerging problem has been attributed to various factors, including early exposure to causal sexual activity, early marriage, rural community living, low social-economic status, peer pressure, lack of sex education, among others.