18022020

26 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020
How 9Ja Girls creates safe haven for
adolescent girls
By Sola Ogundipe
ELIZABETH Joseph is
only 16, but her
intellect belies her age.
“Nigeria's future is bright
and I'm a part of Nigeria's
future, so my future is
bright,” she remarked
enthusiastically.
“We experience fun. Here
we are taught various skills;
we learn to be healthy and
to look healthy, and how to
communicate with others. I
have been coming here
regularly and I have
learned a number of skills.
Among these are beadmaking,
gele tying and
ankara craft. But the main
lesson for me is being
taught how to stand up for
myself and not fall into the
wrong hands to be taken
advantage of.“
Solape Olutoye, another
adolescent girl, is a
frequent visitor to the PHC.
”I come here regularly and
I learn something new
each time. I have made
friends and learned how to
make good use of my
hands. I make some
handcraft and other things
which I have been able to
sell in order to make some
money. For me, the key
lesson from the 9Ja Girls
experience is that it has
enabled me to be more
mentally mature. And that
means a lot in this
environment.”
Elizabeth and Solape are
among the dozens of girls
aged 15-19 who gather
daily at the Agbelekale
Olota PHC to access the
youth-friendly services
provided there, courtesy of
the Adolescent Girls 360
9Ja Girls project.
Girls at the Centre are
united by a common
aspiration. The spoke
recently during an open
house at the Primary
Health Centre in Alimoso
Local Government
Authority in Lagos.
Growing up as a girl in
Nigeria is a challenge
which gets tougher in
adolescence. Barriers
ranging from marriage and
economic independence
force many girls in this age
bracket to drop out of
school. Many adolescent
girls are disadvantaged
when compared to their
male counterparts.
It is in the effort to
address these issues that
the 9Ja Girls initiative was
born. It is an innovative
approach to improve the
sexual and reproductive
health of adolescent girls
aged 15 – 19. In the 9Ja
Girls space, there is
freedom of expression and
boldness. In these spaces,
young girls have clear
vision for their future. The
platform is helping them to
The girls during a session at the Agbelekale Primary Health Centre
cope with the economic,
social, and contextual
barriers towards achieving
these dreams.
The Adolescent Girls 360
project is being catered for
by the Society For Family
Health, SFH, under the
Adolescent 360 (A360)
Project led by Population
Services International, PSI.
9ja Girls is a trusted
system that empowers and
supports girls and their
communities towards
improving adolescent
sexual and reproductive
health, through social and
economic development that
centers on supporting girls’
knowledge, skills and
confidence to aspire and
achieve their life goals,”
said Ms. Fatima
Mohammed the Project
Director, Adolescent 360. It
aims to create safe spaces
where girls can speak their
mind and get the support
from people they trust.
“One of the aims of the
9Ja Girls is to revolutionise
how unmarried adolescent
girls access sexual and
reproductive health
services, and this is done
by providing them with an
appropriate platform to
acquire the right skills for
life, love, and health and
knowledge through a
network of youth-friendly
service providers. All these
are integrated into the
primary health care centres
to make youth friendly
services available and
accessible to the girls.”
Mohammed says the
9jaGirls spacet is personal
and personalised for each
girl, and offers a sense of
safety and freedom. There,
the girls learn about their
bodies and sexual health
with trust. Part of the
agenda is to increase the
uptake of modern
contraceptives and reduce
unintended pregnancies
so the girls have access to
modern contraception
The 9ja Girls Skills classes
S
are where teenage girls are
offered a wide variety of
classes to learn skills for life,
love and health. The 9ja
Girls Clinic is a girls-only
safe space, where girls take
vocational skills classes,
learn about topics related to
love, dating, relationships
and sexual and
reproductive health, have
private one-on-one
counselling and receive
health services from trained
counsellors and providers.
“We counsel them for
skills for life, love and
health, to enable them to
know the difference
between love and life, by
giving them negotiation
skills,” said Peace Anya, a
provider that counsels girls
of age 15-19 and talks to
them about their skills, love
and health.
“In skills for health we talk
about menstruation,
personal health and
everything they need to
know as young adolescent
girls, they have questions
they want to relay to us and
we explain in details to
them. We tell them what it
takes to be a girl and what
it means to be growing up
as a girl child.
“Other than Saturdays,
there is a programme held
Monday to Friday called
“The Working Section”
during which the girls
approach the counsellors
One of the
aims is to
revolutionise
how
unmarried
adolescent
girls access
sexual and
reproductive
health
services
and talk about things
bothering them. They
relate life experiences
generally including their
studies and academics. “
Peace who said the 9Ja
Girls generally talk about
their health and
relationships, remarked
that working with the girls
has been a revelation.
“When they come for
counselling, we are not
biased. We let them know
that adolescence is a time
that you get to like people
a lot but you have to know
what you really want. You
have to ask yourself, would
this relationship help you
to achieve your personal
goals or would it distract or
lead you astray? If you are
not ready to be sexually
active and a boy keeps
pressuring or forcing you,
talk to him and inform him
that you are not ready.
The Centre runs a
monthly interactive
programme called ‘The
Mum Section’, during
which mobilisers invite
mothers to the programme
where they are informed
about how to relate with
their adolescent girls.
“The girl child these days
are very delicate, you need
to pay attention to them. It
is an interactive session
where we talk to them in
detail on issues bothering
their children. This is
because they might have
instilled fear in them and
have made them scared of
explaining themselves to
their mothers, they come to
us and are free to tell us
their problems because we
are young and are almost
of the same age range.”
The Principal Nursing
Officer in charge of the
Agbelekale PHC and 9Ja
girls facility, Mrs. Isiolaotan
Olubanke Ajoke, noted that
major concerns of the girls
vary but all of them need
someone to confide in, as
most cannot confide in their
parents.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Total deaths: 1,776 (1,772 in China, 1 each
in Phillippines, Hong Kong, France)
Confirmed cases: 71,449 (11,326 critical)
Total recovered: 11,425
No. of affected countries: 29
Confirmed cases/deaths by Country
(as of 8pm on 17/02/2020)
Mainland China:
70,553
Singapore : 77
Japan: 66
Hong Kong: 60
Thailand: 35
South Korea: 30
Taiwan: 22
Malaysia : 18
Germany: 16
Australia: 15
Vietnam: 14
Macau: 10
France: 12
US: 12
UK: 9
UAE: 9
Canada: 8
India: 3
Italy: 3
Philippines: 3
Russia: 2
Spain: 2
Cambodia: 1
Finland: 1
Sweden: 1
Nepal: 1
Sri Lanka: 1
Belgium: 1
Egypt: 1
DRC, 3 others licence Ebola
vaccine
THE Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Burundi,
Ghana and Zambia have licensed an Ebola vaccine, just
90 days after prequalification by the WHO. The vaccines
will be registered in more countries in the coming weeks.
With this development, the manufacturer can stockpile
and widely distribute this vaccine to African countries at
risk of Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks. This will make
clinical trials or other research protocols unnecessary.
"The approval of the Ebola vaccine by these countries is
another milestone in the fight against this unforgiving
disease," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros. “Africa
has rallied to cement hard-fought progress to keep its
people safe from Ebola."
The injectable Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, is manufactured
by Merck and preliminary study results have shown a
97.5 percent vaccine efficacy. Data also suggests that
vaccinating people who are already infected reduces their
chances of dying.
WHO accelerated the licensing and roll-out of the Ebola
vaccine by certifying that it met the organisation’s
standards for quality, safety and efficacy in its fastest
vaccine prequalification process ever, announced in
November 2019.
“The rapid approval of the Ebola vaccine by countries in
the Africa Region helps ensure this critical prevention
tool will be available when and where it is needed most,”
said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for
Africa. “This kind of collaboration and innovation is a
model for other health priorities.”
HYPO kicks off nationwide
campaign against Lassa fever
HYPO Hygiene Products Limited, makers of Hypo
bleach, formally launched a nationwide sanitisation
campaign in open markets against Lassa fever, especially
in the most affected states in Nigeria.
The campaign is in collaboration with the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, involves visits to
major open markets across 11 states to enlighten market
women and the entire public on the Lassa fever epidemic
and steps to keep their environment clean and
effectively sanitized towards curbing the spread.
Speaking at the event at Oke Arin Market, Ms.
Omotunde Bamigbaiye, Brand Manager Hypo Bleach,
said women are custodians of the family and managers
of house affairs, and catching up with them at the market
square remains a strategic touch point to disseminate
the message.
“It is not just coincidental that Hypo Sanitisation
Campaign against Lassa is officially launched in two cities
today, because Thursdays have been earmarked specially
for environmental sanitation exercise across most major
open markets in Nigeria.
The idea is to have the public incorporate effective
sanitisation approach into their regular cleaning while at
the same time taking them through step by step processes
to prevent the spread of Lassa fever both at their shops
and at home” she said.
Omotayo Abiodun, Public Relations Manager, Tolaram
Group, reiterated that the campaign kicked off
simultaneously at Oke Arin Market and Oja Oba Market,
Akure South LG, Ondo State.