ExpandNet co-sponsored a webinar on 22 June to highlight how four countries have managed to dramatically reduce adolescent pregnancy over the past 20 years by successfully scaling up tested interventions.
In the years following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, remarkable progress has been made on adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Many countries have implemented and sustained programs at a large scale with demonstrated successes. The experiences of Chile, England, Ethiopia and Jamaica were showcased in the 95-minute webinar co-hosted with the World Health Organization, Medicus Mundi Switzerland, the African Institute for Development Policy, Exemplars in Global Health, the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, the Women’s Center of Jamaica Foundation, and the IBP network.
The following speakers (in order of appearance) provided insight into how the four countries put the reduction of adolescent pregnancy and child bearing on their national agendas, outlined steps taken to address the most vulnerable girls/young women, and delineated how each country scaled up and sustained their programs:
Alison Hadley Obe, Director, Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, University of Bedfordshire
Lemessa Oljira, Team Leader, Adolescent and Youth Health Research Advisory Council, Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia
Zoe Simpson, Executive Director, Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation
Fernando Gonzalez, Director, Department of Prevention and Disease Control, Ministry of Health, Chile
Nandita Thatte, Technical Officer, Department of Sexual & Reproductive Health & Research, IBP Secretariat, World Health Organization
Naa Dodua Dodoo, PhD, Senior Research and Policy Analyst, African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP)
Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, World Health Organization, Human Reproduction Programme
Laura Ghiron, President, Partners in Expanding Health Quality and Access and Member of the ExpandNet Secretariat
The webinar was facilitated by Carine Weiss, Gender and Youth Team Lead of HIV Prevention Branch, Medicus Mundi Switzerland.
Please access the recording and links to accompanying resources at this link on the Medicus Mundi website.
