Assessing Adolescent Reproductive Health Policies and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa Case Studies from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Togo

Anne E. Calvès, University of Montreal

Addressing adolescent reproductive health issues is particularly crucial in sub-Saharan Africa where rates of maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, and sexually transmitted infections including HIV among youth, are the highest in the world. Despite the importance of the topic, however, adolescent reproductive health issues is still a sensitive subject in the region and there is often an important gap between the declarations of government officials and the actual design of reproductive health policies and programs geared toward youth. This study addresses this issue in two parts. First, it presents key elements of a framework for assessing the degree of development of policies and programs promoting adolescent reproductive health, and to set the benchmarks against which future policy and program development can be measured. Second, the study analyzes the development of ARH policies and programs and demonstrates the framework's application in three countries in Francophone Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Togo.