The South-West Regional Manager, Adolescent 360, a project of the Society for Family Health, Tunde Ogungbemiro, has disclosed that there was an increase in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the lockdown imposed to stop the spread of Coronavirus.

Ogungbemiro said the group also noticed an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies during the same period. He said this in Ibadan on Friday during a ceremony to disseminate achievements and challenges of the project in Oyo State.

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According to Ogungbemiro, the increase was noticed from the data in health facilities used by A360 in the  Akinyele and Ibadan North East local government areas of the state. It was also discovered that a large number of adolescent were sexually active, contrary to the belief of their parents and guardians.

He stressed that young people ought to be taught about reproductive health in order to prevent them from contracting HIV, STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

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Ogungbemiro said, “Between March and May, we recorded over 16 teenage pregnancies in just six health facilities that we adopted in two local government areas. This figure is a sharp increase compared to the period before it.

“That tells us that a lot happened in other places that we did not capture. Also, all the health facilities were out of STD drugs during that time. Increase in sexual activities was not limited to the adolescent group alone, but sex among the adults and married couples was not part of our mandate.”

Some of the girls, who were part of the project, lauded the initiative and pleaded with the state government to extend it to other areas of the state. In response, the Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, said the state government would replicate the project done by the group in other parts of the state.

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