Togo-Benin: launch of a cross-border campaign on reproductive health and HIV

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Extract from the article: From October 2 to 5, Togo and the Republic of Benin co-organized a major social mobilization campaign on family planning and HIV and STI testing at the Sanvee-Condji (Togo) and Hilla-Condji (Benin) cross-border junction, in collaboration with the Wes

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From October 2 to 5, Togo and the Republic of Benin co-organized a major social mobilization campaign on family planning and HIV and STI testing at the Sanvee-Condji (Togo) and Hilla-Condji (Benin) cross-border junction, in collaboration with the West African Health Organization (WAHO). The official launch was made by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr. Wotobe Kokou Marin, on October 3. This major cross-border campaign aims to bring sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning and HIV/STI testing, closer to populations living in border areas.

The goal is to help reduce the spread of HIV and STIs and promote family planning (FP) through interventions at border crossings. These various interventions, whose targets are an integral part of Togo's strategic framework for combating HIV, AIDS, and STIs, are also part of regional initiatives such as the consultation framework of the Permanent Secretariats/Executive Secretariats of the CNLS in the WAEMU zone and Mauritania.

 « Specifically, this involves providing sexual and reproductive health services, family planning, and HIV testing to 2,300 people, recruiting 700 new users of modern contraceptive methods, and testing 1,600 people (transporters, fishermen, sex workers, street children, travelers, transit agents, etc.), distribute 400,000 condoms and 100,000 lubricants free of charge, vaccinate 100 children and 150 pregnant women as part of a catch-up vaccination program, deworm 2,000 children aged one year and older, screen 350 women for precancerous lesions, promote the complementarity of health services at the borders, improve people's knowledge of SR/FP/HIV and encourage behavioral change, and mobilize more partners to ensure the sustainability of cross-border health actions », said the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr. Wotobe Kokou Marin.

Through this campaign, the Togolese government reaffirms its commitment to bringing health services closer to its people and contributing to the regional fight against HIV, STIs, and reproductive health issues.

The campaign received financial support from the African Union-NEPAD African Demographic Dividend and Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (AUDA-NEPAD). This campaign is part of the implementation of activities under the Regional Program on Reproductive Health and HIV Prevention in the ECOWAS Region.

Since 2016, four campaigns have been carried out at the cross-border nodes of Sanvee Condji (Togo) and Hilla Condji (Benin), known as Node No. 2, and Kodjoviakopé (Togo) and Aflao (Ghana), known as Node No. 5, with satisfactory results.

Elom AKAKPO

Source: MSHP Communications Department