Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, will build a modern rehabilitation center for people with substance abuse disorder in the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, announced this while performing the inauguration of the state technical working group for adolescent health and development at Jerome Udorji State Secretariat, Awka.
The technical working group in the state Ministry of Health is an inter-ministerial committee that identifies and implements programmes aimed at addressing challenges facing adolescent health and development in the state.
Members of the group are drawn from the academic community, the media, line ministries and agencies, civil society organisations, youth-led and advocacy groups.
Inaugurating the technical working group, Commissioner Obidike emphasized that Governor Chukwuma Soludo prioritizes issues that affect young people, such as the increasing rate of substance abuse in the state and other sexual health issues affecting them.
Explaining the import of the technical working group, the team leader of the Adolescent and School Health branch, Department of Family Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs Joyce Kanu, who facilitated the training of members of the group in the state, identified the challenges facing adolescents to include substance abuse, unsafe abortion, rape, cultism and poor access to life planning information for adolescents and youths, stating that there is need to put some of these issues on the front burner of policy making at all levels of government.
Contributing, the Anambra State Coordinator, World Health Organization, Dr Abdulnasir Adamu, pledged continuous technical and financial support of the organization in the areas of adolescent health and development.
