Conference on sexual health and rights underway in Accra

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Tuesday said it was important for Africans to build on the possibility of youth engagement in the change process of the African continent.

He said the youth can be a formidable force to transform Africa and create a better world, adding that with right investments, support and interventions, young people especially adolescent girls have the power and potential to transform families, communities, nations and the world.

Professor Osotimehin said this at the opening of the 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (Accra 2016) in Accra, on theme;'Realizing demographic dividend in Africa; the critical importance of adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights'.

The conference is being hosted by Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama, First Lady of Ghana and President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) in collaboration with Curious Minds, Ghana, an organisation of young advocates and youth in broadcasting.

Participating First Ladies are from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali and Cote D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso Sudan, Madagascar and Mozambique and Chad.

He said the conference is to raise visibility and build continental support for the investments needed in Africa to realize the demographic dividend, and to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with advancing the agenda in Ghana.

He said it would also create the opportunity to bring greater attention to the huge assets that young people represent as a pathway to harnessing the demographic dividend and progress towards sustainable development in Ghana and the rest of Africa.

Professor Osotimehin said the demographic dividend is an opportunity that should be seized to uplift Ghana and all other African nations, adding that actions must be taken to promote sustainable development for women, men, boys and girls alike.

'We have a global resource that until now has been largely overlooked, and it has nothing to do with science or technology. It is the world's young people,' he noted.

He said there must never be a time when Africans would be on their bended knees for help and as such we must provide education in entrepreneurship, vocational and technical training to the youth as well as the provision of sexual reproductive health care.

He called on African countries to strengthen their school systems and invest in adolescent health for the youth in order to create opportunities for integrated development.

President John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana, opening the conference said it was important to empower the youth in order for them to be part of the process in moving the continent forward.

He said the conference was very timely and important in order to compare notes and share experiences as well as how far African have gone in relation to sexual reproductive health and rights.

He said the first ladies of various African countries came together to help in dealing with reproductive health and begun with HIV and AIDS, but as time went on their work has widened to tackle issues of breast and cervical cancer.

President Mahama said as governments there is the need to keep the worlds focus on walking towards ending AIDS, by continuously introducing new effective anti-retroviral drugs and dropping the rate of mother to child transmission.

He noted that early marriages were the most obnoxious practice in the 21st century, which is not acceptable and governments must support each other to fight the trend.

He urged governments to create the opportunity for girls not only to go to school but stay in school in order for them to reach their full potentials.

Mrs Lordina Mahama, First Lady of Ghana, said it was important for African countries to focus and work hard towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as well as invests in the health care of people especially the youth.

She said reducing maternal mortality, early and forced marriages, reduction of teenage pregnancy, and discussing solutions and prevention of HIV and AIDS would be considered during this conference.

Mrs Mahama said 'we need a continent of young people who are educated and healthy and we must invest in their education and health care in order for them to grow and contribute towards the development of the African continent'.

She noted that the future of every country depended on the activeness of its youth, and her outfit would continue to support all youth programmes to achieve their targets for the socio-economic development of the country.

GNA