HARMONY: Maternal interventions nurturing development — mental health assistance for adolescent empowerment, resilience and support in Thailand

Adolescent pregnancy presents significant risks to both maternal and mental health, particularly for vulnerable groups in Thailand such as migrant adolescents, Muslim youth and adolescent mothers. These populations face intersecting challenges, including cultural stigma, restrictive gender norms, limited legal protections and insufficient adolescent-responsive care, which collectively contribute to poor health outcomes and social exclusion. The integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with mental-health services is increasingly recognized as crucial to addressing these issues. However, such models remain underdeveloped and difficult to scale, especially in low-resource settings.

This project seeks to improve maternal and mental health outcomes for adolescent mothers by using a community-based and gender-transformative approach. This approach aims to empower adolescent mothers by enhancing their life skills, psychosocial resilience and decision-making capabilities. It also aims to increase equitable access to integrated SRHR and mental-health services, reduce stigma through community engagement and generate evidence to inform scalable, youth-led advocacy and inclusive policy models. Expected outcomes include strengthened individual and institutional research capacity, improved service delivery, support for long-term policy reform and systems change to reduce health inequities and improve adolescent wellbeing.