The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday held a national consultative meeting to discuss ways to integrate Sexual and Reproductive Health (SHR) modules into already existing literacy curriculum for girls in the non-formal sector.

The meeting was attended by leaders of informal training institutions across the country.

It was necessitated by the need to reduce teenage pregnancy and promote the education of sexual and reproductive health rights among out of school girls.

The meeting is expected to provide an avenue for stakeholders at the national and local level to facilitate the integration of standardized gender and SHR modules for complementary education to help out of school adolescent girls make informed choices on issues affecting them.

Mr Adowa Yenyi, Programme Specialist for adolescent and youth at the UNFPA, said the development of the model was crucial at the time when the COVD-19 pandemic had exacerbated the socio-economic conditions of women.

"The pandemic has affected the health systems and impacted negatively on access to sexual and reproductive health services and information as well as increased women and girls vulnerability to gender-based violence and exploitation," he said.

She said the alarming adolescent pregnancy rates for 2020 was a testament to a fact that Ghana needed to redouble efforts to engage youth groups in order to achieve demographic dividend.

Mrs. Yenyi said the meeting would help develop, update or implement gender-sensitive modules to tackle existing inequalities faced by young girls in the non-formal sector.

She thanked the leadership of the Complementary Education Agency and the Purim Africa Youth Development Platform for contributing to ensure that Ghana develops a holistic and standardized curriculum for engaging the youth in the non-formal sector.