Objective

• To introduce the Adolescent health website and mobile App with the urban school adolescents.
• To conduct basic physical examination by medical doctors and nurses in the schools.
• To provide counselling services to the students from class six to ten on SRH, child marriage and nutrition.
• To conduct mental health sessions by clinical psychologist with urban school adolescents.

Expected Outcome

• Urban adolescents learnt about and used the Adolescent Health Website and Mobile App.
• Urban adolescents gathered knowledge about AFSH and its services
• Adolescents received free health checkup; counseling on SRH, child marriage and nutrition by medical professionals; and mental health counselling provided by clinical psychologist.

Program details

• The initiative was supported by Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and Ministry of Education (MoE) and sponsored by Unilever Bangladesh.
• 3 adolescent health camp were organized by Dnet with technical support of UNICEF Bangladesh.
• Civil Aviation School and College, Udayan Uchcha Madhyamik Bidyalaya and BCSIR School and College were selected for the program which are all situated in the heart of Dhaka city.
• Adolescents from class six to ten were targeted as the primary group for the camps.
• Doctors from Dnet and Health Officer from UNICEF conducted Physical Check-ups, Vision Check-ups, Awareness Session and Mental Health Sessions for the students.
• At least four medical doctors and two nurses were present to support the program.
• The program was conducted under the joint supervision of Dnet and the school authority.
• Apart from services, there was a gift pack from Unilever Bangladesh for each students and some health materials from DGFP.

Sustainability Model

The idea of this health camp was to develop a model and build a support system for adolescents in addressing physical and mental health dilemmas and complex situations, managed by medical professionals. Conducting the camp within the parameters of their schools made it easier to reach the targeted community and enabled the collection of substantial data from participants, leading to a qualitative needs assessment of SRHR issues among urban adolescents. This approach aimed to sensitize policymakers to reinforce more user-oriented services at the national level.