She made these remarks at the premiere of 'You Only Live Once' (YOLO) Season 6 at the Silverbird Cinemas, Accra Mall.

Madam Osei-Opare expressed joy at the return of the series which, she noted, had helped many young people navigate their life, relationships, and health.

"I thank USAID for partnering with the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), and the National Population Council(NPC) for allowing the continuation of this  programme " she said.

She added that the YOLO series complimented Government's efforts such as the Free SHS and  the Technical and Vocational Education and Training  (TVET)  programmes to give hope and empower many young people with knowledge and skills.

Madam Osei-Opare said that the new season would not only focus on the COVID-19, pandemic but other issues such as family planning, reproductive health, and malaria prevention, among others, in an effort for Ghanaians to live a good life.

She emphasized that His Excellency, Nana Akufo-Addo's vision was to navigate the health crisis in the country through the construction of the Agenda 111 hospitals as part of measures to improve health systems to bring healthcare closer to the people, especially in underserved communities.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Virginia Palmer in a speech, described young people as the  centre of development all over the world making the choices surrounding healthcare very critical adding that she was pleased with YOLO's role in supporting that.

"The United States Government and Ghana have been close partners for decades, working together to improve the health, education, governance, and economic opportunities for all Ghanaians, especially young people. This is why we are proud to support YOLO" said Ambassador Palmer.

She noted that YOLO was more than a TV show, it was a safe space where young Ghanaians could discuss and debate positive  behaviours that would protect their health and their families.

The  Director of the Ghana Health Service's Health Promotion Division, Dr. Dacosta Aboagye, said that the YOLO Season 6 was a very educative  programme and encouraged the youth to pay attention to the content of the series.

About COVID-19, Dr. Aboagye stated that data suggested that the youth were lagging in getting the vaccine. This, he noted had been addressed in the series to give the youth better information for them to get vaccinated.

He said that the GHS had began tracking COVID misinformation across the country through a new platform and the data received was helping to create their COVID campaigns.

Dr. Letitia Appiah, Executive Director at the National Population Council said that the series started with a focus on reproductive health education for young people in the South by the NPC in partnership with the Ghana Education Service,

the Ministry of Health, National Youth Authority, among other partners, but had expanded to COVID-19, Malaria, Nutrition, among others.

" Over 30 percent of our population is youthful so we cannot leave them behind in knowledge and access to services. We therefore seek to bridge the inequality gap" she stated.

Director General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye said that over 5 million people had subscribed to watching the YOLO series with its talented cast who turn mundane topics like nutrition, and adolescent health into engaging and entertaining programs.

The YOLO Season 6 will focus on the culture, health, and well-being challenges from the Northern Region's perspective with new cast members from the North as part of the GHS's GoodLife, Live it Well campaign.

It is produced by Farmhouse Productions Limited. It will be aired on TV3, GH-one, NTV, YouTube, and Farmhouse Movies App, in schools and communities in the Northern Region and other platforms and is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Accelerating Social and  Behaviour Change (USAID-ASBC).