This story is from December 14, 2019

Sitapur to get UP’s 1st adolescent health clinic

Questions and worries are part of adolescent life. In the absence of confidants and counsellors, most teenagers find it difficult to deal with the plethora of changes that the body and mind undergo with puberty.
Sitapur to get UP’s 1st adolescent health clinic
Representative image
LUCKNOW: Questions and worries are part of adolescent life. In the absence of confidants and counsellors, most teenagers find it difficult to deal with the plethora of changes that the body and mind undergo with puberty.
To bridge the glaring gap in communication, the state government has come up with a safe space concept for adolescents and young adults (10 to 19 years).
The first adolescent-friendly health clinic (AFHC), aptly called Saathiya, will be launched on December 18 at Sitapur’s Mishrik block by health minister Jai Pratap Singh and the pilot project will be replicated in other districts soon.
Being set up under National Health Mission (NHM) with support from Population Foundation of India (PFI), the project is also aimed at bringing down the high rate of teenage pregnancies in UP. It is being covered under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram.
According to extrapolated data from National Family Health Survey (NHFS-4) and the 2011 Census, India is estimated to have around 44.67 lakh teenage pregnancies a year. Of these, over 4 lakh cases are from UP alone with Sitapur featuring among the top five districts with maximum teenage pregnancies in the state.
“It has been observed that adolescent girls in rural areas find it harder to open up about changes that happen with puberty and about their health problems. It is not easy for a rural adolescent to approach a doctor or hospital with queries,” said minister Singh.
“This is where a dedicated clinic and information centre comes into play. Young boys and girls will find peer educators who can help them confront adolescent issues. With its friendly ‘club meetings’, the clinic will be a safe space for them,” he maintained.

Groundwork for nine months in Sitapur has revealed that there has been a 36% increase in counselling sought by adolescents between April and September 2019. “Around 52,000 adolescents were approached in schools and close to 2,500 peer educators have already been trained,” Singh said.
The minister added that once adolescents were educated about safe sex, masturbation and honouring each other’s bodies, it would help deal with rapes, sexual crimes and teenage pregnancies. Data shows 25% of UP’s population is between 10 to 19 years of age. Majority of these youngsters are from 57 districts of the state, of which 25 districts are categorised as high priority with maximum number of adolescents in the said age group based there. Sitapur is one of them.
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