Students selected from Odumase Presbyterian and Anglican JHS, and Talented Academy, took part in a forum to educate adolescents on issues related to their transition from Adolescence to adulthood as part of the Advocacy and campaign.

Adolescence is a critical period of development characterized by rapid physicalemotional and cognitive changes and its impact is dependent on the health and social services available and accessible to the adolescent.

Against this background, the family health division of the GHS commemorates the annual Adolescent Health Advocacy Week to campaign for an inclusive society, which meets the sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and mental health as well as social developmental needs of the Adolescent.

Madam Ellen Darkoa Asare, Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Eastern Region, said during the adolescent stage, young people and students, especially go through academic challenges, due to peer pressure and physical changes of the body.

That, she noted, called for better health systems that responded to that unique health and social development needs of the Adolescents as they transitioned to adulthood for a healthier and more inclusive future for young people.

She said that explained collaboration with the GES to ensure that as educators and mentors, who played vital roles in providing the right guidance and support, the schools became an environment where students feel safe, understood, and encouraged to make healthy choices.

Mr Godfried Ofoe Caesar, Eastern Regional School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator, said to address the challenges of that period in students, the GES had integrated Adolescent Reproductive Health issues across subjects in the curriculum from the basic level through to the SHS to provide knowledge, skills and attitudes they required to cope.

He mentioned the formation of school health clubs and mentorship programmes as some of the interventions put in place to improve behaviour change among Adolescents.

The SHEP Coordinator noted that parents also had a critical role to play in ensuring that Adolescents transitioned safely into adulthood and urged them to step up their roles and deepen communication with their wards.

Madam Henrietta Ataa Kaakyire, Project Assistant, MSI Reproductive Choices Ghana, provided reproductive health choices to women and girls and encouraged young people to make right choices for better outcomes.