In Zambia, adolescents account for about a quarter (24%) of the total population, and due to the difficult socio-economic demands that comes with adolescence, many of them tend to engage in vices like early unprotected sex which contributes to high disease burden and social problems, particularly STIs/ including HIV, unwanted and teen pregnancies, unsafe abortions, gender based violence, mental health problems, unsafe cultural practices, injuries and all other adverse consequences and sometimes death.

As such, significant milestones have been made to improve the health and rights of adolescents and young people in the country. During the last reporting period, ZAGO successfully conducted comprehensive training of Healthcare Facility Adolescent Health Focal Point Persons (F-ADH-FPP) across all ten districts implementing the landmark, “Improving access to and use of Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR) services by adolescents and young people” project.

With support from AMPLIFYCHANGE, this activity is creating a network of skilled champions and ambassadors within health facilities to ensure young people receive the much needed respectful, confidential, and high-quality care they deserve.

The training equipped healthcare providers from Chingola, Mufulira, Kitwe, Ndola, Kafue, Chilanga, Chongwe, Petauke, Sinda, and Chipata districts with unique knowledge and skills needed to serve adolescents effectively. This was the second training of F-ADH-FPP for the project. These Focal Point Persons were now the go-to experts within their facilities, tasked with:

1. Providing adolescent-friendly, non-judgmental SRHR services.
2. Ensuring confidentiality and privacy for young clients.
3. Offering accurate information on contraception, STI prevention, and safe sexual practices.
4. Providing counselling and support on issues like mental health challenges, gender-based violence (GBV) unsafe abortion, and early and unintended pregnancy.
5. Acting as advocates and liaisons to make their healthcare facilities more welcoming and accessible to young people.

It is worth noting that adolescence is a critical period for establishing lifelong health patterns. Yet, young people in Zambia often face formidable barriers – including stigma, judgement, lack of privacy, and misinformation – when seeking essential SRHR services.

ZAGO’s advocacy strategy to embed trained, empathetic focal-point persons in all health facilities the project is supporting – is directly breaking down these barriers at the point of care; it is decentralizing adolescent healthcare.

This decentralised model ensures that expertise is not concentrated in urban centers but is also spread across communities, making supportive healthcare a reality for adolescents in both urban and rural settings of the Copperbelt, Lusaka, and Eastern provinces.

The training of this second cohort of F-ADH-FPPs is not the end, but a continuous objective of the project. These champions are now expected to achieve so much in their facilities, of course not limited to:

1. Improve access to adolescent-friendly services.
2. Sensitise their colleagues to foster a more adolescent-friendly environment.
3. Reach out to communities and schools to build trust and awareness.
4. Collect vital data to help ZAGO understand project progress and better respond to adolescents’ needs.
5. Work hand-in-hand with peer educators in community dialogue meetings.

ZAGO, with support from AMPLIFYCHANGE, will continue to provide these focal persons with ongoing support supervision, and the necessary resources to sustain their vital work. ZAGO is also grateful to the Ministry of Health at national, provincial, and district levels for their collaboration and commitment to adolescent health.