Lira University’s CAFFP-PAC Project yields fruit, supports adolescent youth health

By Patrick Opio

Senior Communications Officer

“Together, we can empower young people, transform gender norms, and improve access to life-saving reproductive health services,” Lira University’s Assoc. Prof. Omech Bernard has said.

Lira University, together with other partners, is implementing a 3-year project, the Comprehensive Adolescent-Friendly Family Planning and Post-Abortion Care(CAFFP-PAC). It is a project in Northern Uganda aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents by integrating them into public primary healthcare facilities.

While chairing the 3rd Project Implementation Committee(PIC) meeting at Gracious Palace Hotel, Lira City, on 24th September 2025, Assoc. Prof. Omech said, “The CAFFP-PAC Project has so far made significant progress, implementing a range of community-driven, gender-transformative activities to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in the region.”

The initiative is being funded by the Addressing Neglected Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa (ANeSA), the International Development Research Centre(IDRC), among others.

 Dr. Maxson Kenneth Anyolitho, the project Coordinator named several achievements attained in the last quarters of the project implementation.

He noted that the project targets improving access to, and utilization of Sexual Reproductive Health services by female and male adolescents and other underserved population groups in Lira, through an integrated CAFFP-PAC using a citizen science gender transformative approach (CS-GTA).

The Project Team members who listed several achievements of the project progress during the meeting  were Dr. Morris Chris Ongom (Co-PI), Assoc. Prof Judith Akello Abal (Co.PI), Mr. Edmonton Acheka (Co-PI), and Dr Samson Udho (Co.PI).

The CAFFP-PAC project empowers adolescents as citizen scientists, actively involving them in identifying barriers, designing solutions, and implementing interventions. The project adopts a participatory, gender-transformative, and community-led approach, ensuring adolescents have access to safe, stigma-free reproductive health services including post-abortion care.

Goal

Improve access to, and utilization of Sexual Reproductive Health services by female and male adolescents and other underserved population groups.

Key Objectives

1. Improve Access: Integrate adolescent-friendly family planning and post-abortion care into primary healthcare facilities.
2. Empower Adolescents: Train young people as citizen scientists to advocate for their health rights.
3. Strengthen Healthcare Systems: Build the capacity of healthcare providers to deliver gender-sensitive SRH services.
4. Shift Social Norms: Engage communities to address cultural and gender barriers to SRH services.
5. Sustainability & Policy Influence: Collaborate with policymakers to institutionalize CAFFP-PAC in national health systems.

Expected Impact

1. Increased access and utilization of family planning and PAC services among adolescents.
2. Reduced unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
3. Strengthened healthcare capacity to provide adolescent-friendly SRH services.
4. Greater community engagement in promoting adolescent SRH.
5. Sustainable policy integration for gender-transformative SRH interventions.