Two researchers on the Adolescent Health West Africa: Gender Transformative & Responsive Health Systems’ Project (ADoWA – GTR), on Wednesday, July 27 2022 made a presentation at the second University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Dissemination Forum. Dr. Paapa Yaw Asante and Ms. Natasha Darko from the West African Health Policy and Systems Consortium (WAHPSCon) attended the Conference, which showcased innovative research and provided opportunities to engage with other health institutions, and partners, stakeholders, and collaborators. The two were joined by colleagues from the Dodowa Health Research Centre.

The three-day forum had participants making various oral and poster presentations on subthemes, such as teaching and learning in a global pandemic, COVID-19, health systems, and multidisciplinary research. A panel, made up of deans from the University, talked about the impact of COVID-19 on their departments.

The Poster Presentation and ADoWA – GTR
Dr. Asante and Ms. Darko in their poster presentation introduced the ‘Adolescent Health West Africa: Gender Transformative & Responsive Health Systems’ (ADoWA – GTR) project. The three-year project that has Prof. Irene Agyepong as its Principal Investigator seeks to examine issues in adolescent sexual, reproductive, and mental health and will be running concurrently in Ghana, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Primary data collection is slated to start in August 2022. The general objective of the project is to co-design and evaluate participatory interventions with adolescents, communities, and primary healthcare providers to enable gender transformative and responsive healthcare systems for sexual, reproductive, and mental health for adolescents.

This study will utilize a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design combining mixed methods, such as Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews, the development of rich pictures, and a casual loop diagram. This research project aims to improve the quality of health services for adolescents and to impact policy and systems for sexual, reproductive, and mental health for adolescents in West Africa.

ADoWA GTR Poster

The poster presentation summarized the overall project, along with the objectives of the study, the methods, and the expected outcome. One of the most common questions the team received after the presentation was the reason behind the choice of the three countries – Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger – for the study.

Sharing her experience after the conference, Ms. Darko said, “It was the first conference we’ve attended on behalf of the ADoWA team, and we can say wholeheartedly that we look forward to attending many more conferences. I enjoyed learning more about the research and engaging with emerging researchers in various academic fields. My only regret is we could only attend one day and I wish that we could have participated in all three days of this conference. However, the little we got to experience was great and has motivated us on our respective research journeys.”

References

Simpson J (2009). Everyone belongs: a toolkit for applying intersectionality. Ottawa. http://also-chicago.org/also_site/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Everyone_Belongs-A-toolkit-for-applying-intersectionality.pdf

About Author

Natasha A. Darko is Pre-Doctoral Researcher in Social Sciences with the Dodowa Health Research Centre. She works on the ADOWA- GTR Project , where she conducts qualitative research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing in West Africa.