OUR WORK WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, PARENTS, AND POLICY MAKERS ADVANCES YOUNG PEOPLE’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Action Health Incorporated (AHI) is a non-governmental organization established in 1989 and dedicated to promoting young people’s health and development to ensure their successful transition to healthy and productive adulthood.

AHI advances this agenda by working with young people, parents, community opinion leaders, youth-serving organizations, government agencies and policy makers to:

  • Promote and protect young people’s sexual and reproductive health especially, increasing their ability to prevent early pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS and making informed choices about their sexuality free of discrimination, coercion, and violence; as well as developing competencies to thrive now and in adulthood;
  • Increase community awareness and action on challenges youth face so that policies and programmes are put in place to effectively address these issues; and
  • Build alliances to increase the number of government, private sector, and civil society programmes offering support and life-enhancing opportunities for young people.

Over the last 34 years, AHI has worked to assure that both private and public sector programmes include comprehensive, gender-sensitive, life skills and rights-based approaches to sexuality education and clinical services for youths.  During this period, AHI has developed models that have been adopted and expanded by government and other civil society organizations. Some key accomplishments include:

  • Successful advocacy for approval of the national education policy for universal access to sexuality education targeted at young people in Nigeria; and development of the National Family Life and HIV Education Curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary levels in collaboration with education stakeholders.
  • Facilitating the development of the Family Life and Emerging Health Issues Curriculum for Colleges of Education in Nigeria in collaboration with the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE)
  • Catalyzing/operationalizing Youth-Friendly Health Services in partnership with stakeholders to promote young people’s access to age-appropriate, gender sensitive, sexual and reproductive health information and services in several states of Nigeria.
  • Published reviews and situation analyses on the sexual and reproductive health of married adolescent girls in Northern Nigeria and expanding their access to services in four northern states including facilitating the return of married girls to school.
  • Raising greater awareness about the vulnerabilities of out-of-school adolescent girls in the urban slums of Lagos and facilitating advocacy to improve policy and programming response.

AHI has received national and distinguished international awards in recognition of the impact of the organization’s work including the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) Award for Excellence & Innovation in Sexuality Education, and The MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Our Donors

Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation supports visionary leaders and organizations on the frontlines of social change worldwide. www.fordfoundation.org

MacArthur Foundation
The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, address population and reproductive health, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. www.macfound.org

UNFPA Nigeria
The UNFPA promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. nigeria.unfpa.org

International Women’s Health Coalition
The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) advances the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people, particularly adolescent girls, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. IWHC furthers this agenda by supporting and strengthening leaders and organizations working at the community, national, regional, and global levels, and by advocating for international and U.S. policies, programs, and funding. www.iwhc.org