Luanda — Angola received, this Wednesday, the regional champion award in menstrual health education management in primary and secondary schools.
In Africa, this program, which is part of sexual education, is being implemented in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
The Angolan Minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, received the award, presented by the resident representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Angola, Mady Biaye, within the framework of the implementation of the Youth Safeguard Program (SYP, in its acronym in English).
The program aims to empower adolescents and young people aged between 10 and 24 against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), early and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, immature marriages, gender-based violence and harmful cultural practices, as well as standards of gender equality and protective behaviors.
Speaking to the press, minister Luísa Grilo said that the implementation of the program is the result of a joint effort with the ministries of Youth and Sports, Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women, NGOs and Churches.
She explained that Angola won the award for the value it attributes to the program and for being the only country that began implementing it in primary school education, with young people and adolescents.
The pilot project covers 150 schools in the provinces of Luanda, Cuando Cubango, Huíla, Cunene, Namibe and Huambo, with more than 30,000 students.
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She informed that the implementation of the project was sponsored by UNFPA, which will be reinforced with financing from the World Bank.
In turn, UNFPA's resident representative in Angola, Mady Biaye, said that the program covers 23 countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, in which 15 countries, with emphasis on Angola, managed to take significant steps in its implementation.
She added that the project has established a good track record over the last 10 years in supporting laws and political reforms in favor of adolescents' sexual and reproductive health.
She highlighted that the SYP is the only program that fully operationalizes the East and Southern Africa (ESA) ministerial commitment on health and education for the well-being of adolescents and youth.
The project, which has technical support from the United Nations Population Fund, is funded by the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and aims to reach 60,000 teenagers and young people aged 10 to 24 with key information by 2026.
Angola joined the SYP program in 2021, with menstrual health as a main strategic area. It trained teachers in more than 150 primary and secondary schools, distributed 15,000 underwear and 10,000 smart watches. SJ/OHA/DOJ
