Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH)

EngenderHealth leads the Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) project to improve the availability and quality of health services for young people in India.

With support from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, EngenderHealth launched the ARSH project in 2008 in partnership with the Government of Jharkhand, where the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents are particularly acute. A majority of women in Jharkhand married before they were 18, while 1 in 4 girls age 15-19 is already a mother.

With the positive results of the project in Jharkhand, EngenderHealth is replicating the model in Bihar, where health needs among youth are similarly urgent. EngenderHealth will initiate the ARSH project in three districts, Patna, Darbhanga, and Gaya, with plans to scale up statewide.

Specifically, the ARSH project works to:

• Train health care professionals at local clinics to understand and meet the health needs of young people. This includes training doctors, nurses, midwives, and other staff to treat anemia, identify risk factors in early pregnancy, counsel teens, and create a youth-friendly environment in the facility.
• Educate youth about their sexual and reproductive health and the availability of youth-friendly services to encourage them to access health services.
• Advocate for supportive policies to ensure a safe, comfortable, and responsive environment for adolescents to access health services.

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