Scaling up comprehensive health and sexuality education in The Gambia

The Gambia has a burgeoning youth population with numerous sexual and reproductive health issues, including high rates of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections, and forms of gender-based violence such as female genital mutilation and forced child marriage. At the same time, there is poor access to quality information and services on sexual and reproductive health, particularly for rural and out-of-school adolescent populations. The national government is seeking evidence-based improvements to increase adolescent and youth knowledge on sexuality education and promote health outcomes.

This project, a collaborative effort between government ministries, researchers and civil society members, builds on previously funded work by IDRC in the main urban region of the country. Like the previous phase, the team will conduct research and develop and test comprehensive health education programs. Building on lessons learned, this project shifts the focus to semi-urban and rural regions, where adolescent health concerns are more pronounced. The project seeks to devise, implement and test a package of interventions to inform the policy development process on comprehensive health and sexuality education. The project team also expects the results to lead to curriculum changes and improved community-based adolescent health programming.