By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE-
UNIVERSAL Health Coverage (UHC) entails that all people should have access to health services they need, when and where they need them without having to face financial hardship.
Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is part of primary healthcare which is the cornerstone of UHC.
However, many people in Zambia, especially adolescents, still struggle to have their Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) needs met.
One of the barriers leading to this gap is the age of consent law, which creates a restrictive environment for access to crucial SRH services for sexually active adolescents in the country.
The age of consent law in Zambia continues to play an important, though not always visible, role in defining and regulating sexual life and access to SRH services.
This law prescribes that only a 16-year-old adolescent is old enough to engage in sexual intercourse.
On the contrary, the reality is different.
Zambia is still battling teenage pregnancies and early marriages involving mostly adolescents below the age of 15.
According to the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS 2018), more than 52 per cent of the 18 million Zambians are under the age of 18 years.
About 12.7 per cent of girls and 16.3 per cent of boys have sex before the age of 15 and teenage pregnancy stands at 29.2 per cent while 3.5 per cent of deaths among girls are maternal.
It is against this background that Hivos unveiled a regional campaign dubbed ‘Consent to Access.’
The initiative is aimed at advocating for improved laws, policies and practices for adolescents access to SRHR information and services in East and Southern Africa.
The organisation recently held a workshop for journalists to give an insight on the campaign.
Policy, advocacy and campaigns programme officer for the regional fund Nana Zulu said during the media training held in Lusaka recently, that consent requirement is one of the major barriers block adolescents from accessing SRH information and services.
“There is lack of laws and policies governing age of consent in the region. Where laws exist, there is lack of harmonisation across services while the interplay of consent for sexual activity and marriage impact access to the services adolescent sexual reproductive health,” she said.
Ms Zulu said analysis in the Zambian context shows that the general age of consent is linked to age of consent to sexual activity and that age of consent across health services was not harmonised.
She further explained that the campaign seeks to enhance capacity of youth-led organisations, young people and other stakeholders, to conduct joint evidence based advocacy and awareness campaigns on age of consent and access to SRHR information and services.
“We want to enhance policy makers, programmers, champions and opinion leaders’ awareness on age of consent and adolescence access to SRH information and services,” she said.
Ms Zulu said the campaign will also amplify young people’s voices, SRH needs and rights through meaningful youth participation in advocacy and awareness initiatives on adolescent SRHR.
She said healthcare providers face ethical and legal dilemmas that need to be clarified
Ms Zulu said there is need to ensure that no one is left behind in terms of the conversation on age of consent.
Ministry of Health Assistant Director Adolescent Health Kakungu Simpungwe said there is slow progress for the country to attain the set targets while literacy levels among the young people is also a contributing factor
“Strengthen linkages with other ministries and organizations to address factors facilitating poor health outcomes and for provision of other services, Increase facilities with adolescent friendly services, and design tailored interventions for underserved and vulnerable adolescents (in rural areas,” Dr Simpungwe said.
Alliance for Accountability Advocates Zambia (AAAZ) Executive Director Luchembe Chilufya is confident that the consent to access campaign is a great initiative that will change the perceptions of young people in the as far as access to SRHR commodities is concerned.
Zambia is a member of both the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).
These bodies have developed legal instruments such as UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which articulate legal obligations of States to realise human rights including adolescent SRHR.
Initiatives like the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN), and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want (AU), stipulate developmental goals including healthy lives and well-being for all ages.
The laws and policies of individual countries are influenced by these commitments.
Therefore, as indicated in the age of consent legal review country report by SRHR Africa Trust (SAT), the legal restrictions which is self-inflicted could disappear as soon as today if only a policy decision is made and thereby could create massive access to commodities for adolescents.
Ignoring this reality will be locking adolescents out of the health system and has the potential to cause irreparable damage to the young population.
