KEEPING THE FAITH; SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH MATTERS!!

The belief and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods as it may be known to many people, forms a religion.  Religion affects our daily lives, what we do, the values we believe in and standards we set for ourselves. In short, it significantly contributes to who we are.

In Ghana, Christianity dominates the southern part of the country with 71.2% of the population being adherents. Islam dominates the northern region with 17.6% of the population. Indigenous traditional believers constitute 5.2%, and 0.8% are affiliated to other groups whereas 5.2% do not belong to any religion at all, according to the 2010 population census. Ghana is undoubtedly known as one of the most religious countries in Africa and to some extent religion affects various developments in the country. As each person is entitled to his opinion, many still question the teachings of various religious groups in Ghana.

Positive or negative, the effect religion has on developmental issues is clearly evident in the manner in which individuals belonging to religious denominations take decisions in various sectors of the economy.

My argument is, if religion fosters peace, love, togetherness and unity among people from different backgrounds of life, why then all the difficulty in handling basic challenges in respective development sectors despite the expertise to overcome them? Well, some say it is human nature, but what do you think?

Critically, religion immensely affects the access to reproductive health and services especially for young people. A big hurdle in my work to ensure young people access safe, comprehensive reproductive health information and services is dealing with religious leaders, school authorities, and various individuals in influential capacities in youth development organizations who identify with a particular religion, and who are of the notion that, providing comprehensive reproductive health information and services leads young people to promiscuous lives and hence feel they have the right to prevent young people under their authority the right to access the comprehensive age-appropriate information. The impact of wrong information accessible to young people through friends at all social gatherings  including religious settings, Meetups, clubs, and other events remain a known mystery. Who restricts information in the mainstream media and new media (Social media and the internet) anyway?

Forget the huge sums of numbers that make up the statistics. Examine the developing world and study the impact of the number of teenage pregnancies in a year, the number of girls who drop out of school due to basic reproductive health problems, the number of girls who are lured into domestic sex work, unsafe abortions, and HIV prevalence rates among young people, birth-related deaths, and the list continues….

The impact of all these challenges contribute to major deficits in youth development, yet Ghanaians claim they are very religious but majority contribute to these problems in their own communities and they aren't aware, or maybe actually pretending they care less. Well, you might as well cut the pretense because it affects us all.

 Perhaps, if all stakeholders directly and indirectly involved could re-think and examine these challenges as public health and/or global health challenges and together work at it, we will surely realize our long, blissful dream of a better developed and informed young people.

How well do you know the kind of information accessible to your child or young relative? And have you examined the recent characters and behavior patterns these young ones tend to develop? I would love to know. Answer the poll at the top right corner. Send me a mail and let’s meet over a drink to develop better strategies for a better world.

Email; okofrancis@gmail.com