Rivers Joins The World To Celebrate Adolescents

Rivers State will join the rest of the world to celebrate the International  Adolescent Health Week (IAHW) which commences from Sunday, March 20 to Saturday, March 26, 2022.
The week has as its  theme: as “Transitions From Childhood To Adulthood Physically and Mentally from A Pre -Pandemic Life Into a Life Shaped By a Pandemic from dependence to Independence”.
In a chat with the Adolescent Desk Officer of the State Ministry of Health, Mrs Mbreba Wokoma, she said the Ministry in collaboration  with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has planned activities for Monday, 21st March and Tuesday, 22nd March, 2022 respectively as part of the celebration of the week.
According to Wokoma, on Monday, the Ministry would recognise and honour two “Adolescent Champions” that have been working with adolescents over the years with the aim of encouraging them in the state to play active roles in development.
At the end of the ceremony, she said there would be a rally with adolescents  and adolescent groups that will commence from the State Secretariat and terminate at Mile One, Port Harcourt.
Also , on Tuesday, there will be a phone- in radio programme to discuss this year’s theme of the  Adolescent Week in two radio stations,  Radio Rivers and WAZIOBA Radio. The discussants for the radio programme are Wendy Wokoma, the global co-lead for IAHW, Jennifer Amadi, Vice Chairman, Adolescents and Young People Technical Working Group (AYPTWG) and Smith Nwokocha, Public Relations Officer, AYPTWG.
Meanwhile, at the international level, the celebration of the week would commence with the programmes lined up on social media from Sunday to Saturday. Each day has its  own theme.
On Sunday, March 20, the theme is, “Empowering Adolescents  to Take Care of Their Own Health”.
Monday also has as its  theme which is “ Managing Stress and Anxiety”.
The theme for the Tuesday event is, “Preventing Unintended Adolescent Pregnancy “. while the theme for Wednesday is “Eating Disorders Affect Many Adolescents”. The theme for Thursday is, “Talking About Mental Health”. For Friday and Saturday, participants are advised to use the days to share their IAHW photos with the hash tag #IAHW2022.
The International  Adolescent Health Week is a week dedicated globally to advocate for and create awareness on adolescent health issues. It is a grassroots initiative for young people, their health care providers, their teachers, their parents, their advocates and their communities to come together and celebrate young people with an ultimate goal of working collectively towards improving the health and well being of the over one billion adolescents across the globe.

By: Ibinabo Ogolo