On 14 November 2012, the Togo YMCA officially launched a new project to address Sexually Transmitted Infections in partnership with 20 different churches and 2 mosques.
For the occasion, the ministry of health was represented by Mr Kademba and UNFPA was represented by Mrs Afeli. Through this project, which has the technical and financial assistance of UNFPA, the Togo YMCA intends to provide advice and support in matters of sexual and reproductive health to almost 4500 youth and young married couples within the churches.
75 preselected youth have already been trained through this project. So many trainings like SAVE (Safer practices, Availability of treatment, voluntary testing and empowerment ) were conducted to enable youth to sensitize their peers.
This project has also begun the training of 40 counsellors chosen by church pastors and imams of the selected mosques. These counsellors are listening to and working for the young people in their communities.
In addition, the YMCA has established partnerships with ten health centres to better educate youth about their HIV status. For this project, 18 nurses, mid-wives and social workers have also been trained.
