It brought together about 90 participants, representing various local and international stakeholder organizations. The meeting was held under the auspices of the National Population Council (NPC) to discuss the findings of research studies undertaken in support of adolescent reproductive health programmes.

 It focused on four areas - “Delivering reproductive health services to young people in Brong-Ahafo Region - a situational analysis of adolescent health corners”, “Adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Ghana - what does the data tell us?”, “Factors influencing non-use of modern contraceptives among adolescents in the Sunyani municipality” and “Assessment of a mobile application for helping health providers to delivering better services to adolescents”.

 The GHARH Project, implemented by Palladium, an international NGO, in collaboration with the Government of Ghana and other partners, was launched in 2014 with the long-term goal of improving adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health.

 It specifically aims to design and implement interventions “to reduce adolescent birth rates and maternal mortality rates in the region” and also to strengthen the capacity of the government and other partners to manage adolescent sexual reproductive health programmes. 

Professor Kofi Awosabo-Asare, Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Mr. David Logan, Palladium Team Leader for the Project, Mr. Adam Abdul-Razak, Regional Research Coordinator, Brong-Ahafo Regional Health Directorate and Mr. Bashiru Adams, Palladium’s Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for the Project, presented the results of the research.

Dr. Osei Kuffour Afreh, Brong-Ahafo Regional Deputy Director, Public Health, earlier noted that, despite the numerous interventions in place, the region continued to have challenges with adolescent sexual and reproductive health. He said although some progress had been made, the rate of success was not commensurate with the effort put in and urged “the meeting to identify the blind side that the project has not hit”