Africa Academy for Public Health participated in the AfyaCheck Campaign 2023 from 21st to 25th August, 2023 at Usagara Secondary School Grounds in Tanga City. The campaign aimed at offering free checkup to Tanga residents in efforts of promoting health seeking behaviors, and also to raise awareness among Tanga residents about the status of health among adolescents.
In this event AAPH, represented by Dr Mary Mwanyika Sando the CEO and her team disseminated key findings from the ARISE Adolescents Health Survey titled “Harnessing longitudinal data and digital technologies to improve adolescent health across sub-Saharan Africa”, which was supported by Fondation Botnar and implemented in collaboration with Tanga City Council. In general, the findings from this study indicated a high demand for adolescent-tailored healthcare services and interventions in Tanga City, especially to the adolescents who are out of school.
The Tanzanian Minister of Health, Hon. Ummy Mwalimu (MP) who was the guest of honor in the opening ceremony event commended the efforts by Africa Academy for Public Health, and encouraged AAPH to share these findings with council and national level technical teams for further action. She urged all state and non-state actors to use empirical findings from this study in improving the quality of services offered to this age group. Additionally, the Minister called for more research on mental health and sexual reproductive health among adolescents in Tanga City and other locations in Tanzania.
Among other domains, the nutrition and mental health status survey findings were alarming among out of school adolescents. Therefore, as part of the AfyaCheck campaign AAPH availed a Nutritionist and supported a Psychologist to offer services. More than 4000 Tanga residents were beneficiaries of this AfyaCheck Campaign.