By Dr. Priya Shankar & Ricky Sharma | Co-Founders, Adolescent Health Champions
Dear Adolescent Health Champion,
Thank you for helping us make the 2022-2023 academic year a remarkable success. We kicked off two major initiatives in rural India and provided school-based health education to over 4,000 adolescents!
In Jharkhand, we launched our flagship initiative, Girls Health Champions, in 27 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools. KGBV schools are all-female residential schools created by the Government of India to promote rural female education and support girls from historically marginalized communities. Working with our Indian partner organization, Ugam Education Foundation, we trained over 600 KGBV female students as peer health educators. These dynamic youth Champions then led sessions with thousands of their classmates on menstrual hygiene, puberty, mental health, gender, and anemia.
On March 25, AHC took part in a celebration with the Bokaro District Administration for the Transforming KGBV program. As part of this initiative, we launched Girls Health Champions in all 9 Bokaro District KGBV schools. The celebration featured 400 students, including many Champions, participating in debate, football, and kabaddi. We are grateful for this collaboration and look forward to supporting many more adolescent girls in Jharkhand!
We are also thrilled to announce our launch in Rajasthan! We have partnered with URMUL Setu, a community-based organization serving Bikaner District in Rajasthan, to design a new youth-led mental health program. We have been collaborating closely with the URMUL Setu team, local youth, educators, and healthcare providers to understand the mental health challenges that Bikaner’s adolescents face, including gaps in mental health awareness and associated stigmas. We piloted our program in five rural government schools in January + February 2023 and are preparing for a full launch this summer.
Building on the successes of this past year, we plan to quadruple our footprint to 130 schools in the 2023-2024 academic year and support over 23,000 adolescent youth in Jharkhand and Rajasthan! The expansion wouldn’t be possible without your support. Please consider donating today and helping us extend our adolescent-led health movement to thousands more youth!
With gratitude,
Dr. Priya Shankar & Ricky Sharma
Co-Founders, Adolescent Health Champions
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