Economics of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Interventions in Ghana and Senegal (EcASaRH)

The provisional plan is a one hour time slot composed of 5 minutes of initial housekeeping, an approximate 40 minute presentation and 15 minutes for discussion.

Featured speaker: Ama Pokuaa Fenny, University of Ghana

Africa’s population is predominantly young, with the majority under 30 years old. In the ECOWAS region, where more than one-third of the population falls between 10 and 24 years old, there is a significant demand for reproductive and sexual health services among the youth. However, many countries lack comprehensive plans to address Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH), including information on intervention costs and resource requirements. To bridge this gap, a study was conducted to identify priority intervention components, estimate their costs, and explore implementation requirements in Ghana and Senegal. The study also assessed funding needs and strategies to implement these interventions in a multi-sectoral approach. To identify priority interventions, the study used various criteria, including addressing social determinants of adolescent health, sustainability, scalability, and cultural values. The four most crucial interventions were selected for both countries. The costing analysis followed an activity-based approach, estimating costs for a seven-year period in the case of Ghana and average cost per adolescent in the case of Senegal. Ghana’s ASRH funding fluctuated and heavily relied on donors, with the majority of costs going towards enhancing national capacity for integrated family planning and maternal health services. On the other hand, Senegal showed a combination of support from multiple partners for reproductive health services, making it challenging to distinguish funding specifically for adolescent reproductive interventions. In Senegal, the majority costs is for capacity strengthening of adolescents and communication/sensitization to communities. In addition, school-based interventions seem to be less expensive using cost per recipient approach. To overcome budget constraints, the study recommended mobilizing equitable and sustainable domestic resources and engaging stakeholders across sectors like health and education to optimize resource utilization for ASRH interventions in Africa. Cross-learning and experience-sharing among key stakeholders were also emphasized to yield greater future returns on investments in ASRH.

REGISTER HERE