Heading: Improving comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) by using YAhealth Games and Strengthening School health clubs, the safe spaces to discuss and tackle the issues of teenage pregnancy, HIV, and SGBV
Like elsewhere globally, in Rwanda, the conversations around SRHR mostly remains in “SILENCE”, as adults, especially parents/guardians and teachers, consider it unacceptable to discuss it with children/students while is a vital aspect of growth and development throughout our lives. Therefore, adults and young people rely on partial and often inaccurate knowledge about SRHR from the media and their peers, limiting their service-seeking behaviors. Consequently, this contributes to the increase in the rate of unwanted/teenage pregnancies, HIV & other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and Sex and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) among adolescent and young people.
While access to reliable and accurate information on SRHR, and HIV and SGBV prevention is one of the solutions to this issue, adolescents in schools still have difficulties in accessing such information since most of the school health clubs are dormant or less active. Schools’ health clubs are voluntary clubs formed and managed by pupils and teachers to promote good health practices and behavioral change in schools and surrounding communities with a high focus on alerting issues especially teenage pregnancies, and STIs including HIV, and SGBV.
More than 9 out of 10 adolescents in Rwanda go to school whereby all schools have time for school club sessions per week. This makes school clubs a good platform to deliver comprehensive sexuality education to most of the adolescents. Adolescents are more receptive to new ideas and practices and therefore provide a suitable opportunity to introduce knowledge and habits at an early stage. Having adopted good health practices from a young age, they are likely to continue so as adults, enabling the reduction of unwanted pregnancies, STIs including HIV, Substance and drug abuse, and SGBV.
It is in that background UNESCO through the Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (03) Program partnered with Community Health Boosters, a youth-led organization to promote comprehensive sexuality education and strengthen the school health clubs, the safe space to discuss and tackle the issues of teenage pregnancy, HIV, and SGBV by using the fun learning tools named YAhealth Games. Under this partnership, 45 schools of BUGESERA, GATSIBO and NYAGATARE Districts, one of the topmost districts with high teenage pregnancies and new HIV infections, were reached and each school was given 5 YAhealth games making a total of 225 games. In addition, the general students of these schools were given the sessions on SRHR, and HIV and SGBV prevention, and a total of 42,811 was reached and 2,250 were trained on YAhealth Game.
