Industry experts and philanthropists call for funding of adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Africa
They said the future of SRHR in Africa is at risk due to shifting geo-political contexts and funding cuts in major donor countries, leaving adolescent girls and young women especially vulnerable
NEW YORK, September 26, 2024 – A high-level panel of industry leaders, and philanthropists have jointly called for existing and new collaborators to advocate, partner, and fund innovative financing models for adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights [SRHR] infrastructure and services in Africa.
They said the future of SRHR in Africa is at risk due to shifting geo-political contexts and funding cuts in major donor countries, leaving adolescent girls and young women especially vulnerable.
Speaking at a side event during the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York, the panelists affirmed that the international community needs to act now to secure the long-term future of SRHR for adolescent girls and young women in Africa and those living in the diaspora.
For SRHR, innovative financing including blended financing – the term used to describe a mixture of private and public funding sources for public services – can lessen the burden of overstretched governments to include resources and commitments from the private sector to pay for essential SRHR services and infrastructure, they said
“The private sector – in Africa and internationally – can and should care because equitable, affordable and efficient sexual and reproductive health will support the health and well-being of African individuals, families and communities whilst also being good for business’ productivity, sustainability and growth.”
The side event, co-hosted by Brands on a Mission [BoaM] and Tiko highlighted how, critically, approximately 59 percent of SRHR financing in low and middle-income countries comes from donors and approximately 41 percent from national government sources.
The partners said if donor funding falls short, there will be drastic repercussions for the health and well-being of adolescent girls and young women in the Global South as SRHR intersects with key SDG indicators such as child, early and forced marriage, contraceptive use, safe delivery/maternal mortality, cervical cancer and HIV infection.
According to the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS, inadequate or constrained SRHR services are responsible for millions of unsafe abortions among people of reproductive age and 3100 HIV infections among adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa every week. Furthermore, nearly one in three women reported that they experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
In her opening remarks, the 3rd First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos communicated, “We need to figure out who has the social capital and how to translate it for impact – there are ways to create innovative partnerships that work and that bring private and philanthropic partners together with the government at the centre for growth and scale.”
Tiko’s Chief Impact Officer Serah Malaba highlighted, “By 2030, African adolescent girls will make up over 24 percent of the global youth population. The time to act is now. The SRHR needs of adolescent girls are growing, against the backdrop of constrained fiscal space and competing public health challenges. Innovative financing models are required to ensure sustainable funding for SRHR, with interventions that remain girl centred.”
Dr. Michael Sidibé, African Union Special Envoy for the African Medicines Agency, added, “What we need are not only advocates who believe in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, but also those who currently don’t see or understand the intersection of the many challenges young people face during their second decade of life. The real issue lies in funding and implementation, and it is essential that Africans are at the centre of developing these solutions. New financial models must not add another layer of complexity, and youth must be positioned as the drivers of change.”
Prof. Myriam Sidibé, Founder and Chief Mission Officer at Brands on a Mission closed the session by saying: “We need to commit to moving beyond traditional boundaries and dare to collaborate in new and unexpected ways to develop the type of platforms and coalitions, that will allow private, public and social sectors to join forces and scale up innovative financing models that will secure the future of SRHR for African populations, most of all women and girls.”
This side event was organised as part of Brands on a Mission’s flagship programme ‘African Voices’, a high-level advocacy programme that aims to uplift the profile of SRHR among a broad base of stakeholders across the continent. African Voices seeks to engage the expertise of non-traditional players, such as brands and branded content from social media influencers with the well-established expertise from NGOs and UN agencies.
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