Ayodeji Ake
The Society for Family Health (SFH), through its ‘Adolescents 360 Project’, said it sensitises 300 girls monthly on healthy lifestyle and relationships, as well as breaks down barriers on critical health services for adolescent girls.
Speaking during a field trip to the Youth Friendly Centre, Ikorun-Igando, Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State recently, the Project Director, Adolescent 360, Mrs. Fatima Muhammad, said the over four years project was targeted at adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years, which has been implemented in eight states, including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Edo, Delta, Nassarawa and Kaduna.
She said: “One of the interventions SFH is currently implementing is the four-and-a-half-year long adolescents 360(A360) Project Services International (PSI) which is funded by Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BGF).
“A360 project works through public and private health facilities to create safe spaces for girls, both married and unmarried. Girls acquire life, love, family and health skills, and make informed choices to create the future they envision.”
Sharing her thoughts, a staff with Youth Friendly Centre, Ikorun-Igando, Alimosho, Adeyemi Paulina, said the SFH team has been able to convince girls on the street access the facility for counseling and education.
“We provide counseling for adolescent girls. We make them independent on their own so that they won’t depend on their parents for everything. We talk to girls about relationships, courtship, how to calculate their menstrual calendar, and how they can avoid unwanted pregnancies.
“Some parents do not look into the affairs of their children at all, so we created the platform for them to talk freely with us here, as part of measures to provide them sexual education.
“When ladies come to tell us she is pregnant, we try to calm them. On a daily basis, we get a minimum of 15 girls and sometimes, it could be 25 or 30. On a monthly basis we get close to 300 girls.
