IT'S TIME TO ACT

https://www.instagram.com/actglobalinitiative/We want to introduce ourselves. We are Master of Social Work students at California State University, Stanislaus, Social Work Department. Our names are Areli, Rachel, Leslie, Karina, and Monalisa. As part of a 2023 study abroad experience, we traveled to Ghana, West Africa with our professor, Dr. Sevaughn Banks, a medical team, and social work professionals. Our signature programming included traveling to the remote island of Amankwakrom in eastern Ghana to address teen pregnancy and period poverty. At the invitation of Chief Otukwa Mpareko VI, from Kwahu Asabi, an interprofessional team, including ourselves, social work students from the University of Ghana and social work students from Savannah State University, will be traveling to the Island of Amankwakrom again to continue our work, and we have named our initiative the #ACTGLOBALInitiative, which can be found on Instagram as @Actglobalinitiative We know teen pregnancy and period poverty are issues disproportionately impacting young people’s abilities to transform their lives. According to the public health department on the island, teen pregnancy is as high as 14%, which is up to 10 times higher than other countries. Another devastating statistic in Ghana is 95% of girls miss up to 20% of their school attendance due to menstruation. Girls and women face this challenge during menstruation because they cannot afford menstrual products.

The #ACTGLOBALInitiative has specific outcome targets. Our goals are to:

Reduce teen pregnancy by 1.5% in two years.

Increase the number of reusable menstrual items by 20,000, which will boost school attendance by 5% for menstruating girls and women in two years.