By B. Linus Flomo
Adolescent pregnancy and maternal deaths are prevalent issues that cast shadows over the future of many of Liberia’s future leaders, especially young girls.
With support from the World Bank, the Ministry of Health, recognizing the urgent need for action to improve the Family Health Program from May 6-8, 2024, distributed recreational materials to five health facilities within Rivercess and Gbapolu Counties.
Health Facilities benefiting from the distribution of these materials in youth-friendly corners includes Fen River Clinic, Timbo Compound Clinic, and Neezuin Community Clinic in Rivercess County.
Others are, the Emirates Hospital and Totoquollie Hospitals in Gbapolu County, the gesture is aimed at providing a secure space for adolescents to interact with the service providers at these facilities.
Speaking during the distribution process in Rivercess and Gbapolu, Madam Leemue Walker, the Coordinator of Adolescent Unit, and Madam Leah B. Sorboh, Child Health Coordinator within the Family Health Division, thanked the Minister of Health, Dr. Louise M. Kpoto, and the head of Family Health, Dr. Nowiah G. Dennis, for the opportunity to present the items on their behalf to the facilities.
Madam Walker revealed that the facilities were chosen based on past assessments done, which identified the need for support to their programs.
She also noted that the Minister of Health, Dr. Louise M. Kpoto, promised to continue lobbying with partners for more support to equip youth-friendly centers across the country that will provide adolescents with a secure and friendly space where sexual health, family planning, teenage pregnancy, substance use disorder, and other Health-related conditions, as well as the consequences of early parenthood, can be discussed confidentially with service providers.
Madam Sorboh who represented her bosses during the distribution process in Gbapolu calls for community engagement to improve adolescent healthcare and emphasizes that the centers were equipped to educate adolescents through seminars or workshops on contraceptives, reproductive health, and other related health topics.
The items distributed to the facilities were water dispensers, smart TVs, generators, footballs, and floormats. Other items include checkerboards, ludo boards, window curtains, chairs, brooms, buckets, floor mops, and many more youth-related recreational items.
Speaking on behalf of the facilities benefiting from such a gesture, Doris Gizzie, the Reproductive Health Focal Person for Rivercess, thanked Minister Kpoto and the Director of the Family Health Department, Nowah Gorpudolo Dennis, for choosing Rivercess and Gbapolu as the two first beneficiaries and promised to continue their engagement with the community and people to improve family health in Rivercess County and Gbapolu.
She promised that those items would be used for its intended purpose.
