Listen

There has been notable progress in the education sector in WCA. Between 2000 and 2019, the rate of primary-age out-of-school children significantly reduced (see graphic above), while secondary school enrolment increased. For example, data for 1996-2004 shows that 25% of boys and 21% of girls were attending secondary school. These rates increased to 39% and 36%, respectively, for 2010-2016. However, at least 23 million children, adolescents, and young people are still out of school in WCA. Furthermore, progress in the education sector is not uniform, and disparities between genders and countries remain.

Gender disparities widen with age. In WCA, the disparity, an 8 percentage point gap, is more marked in the first and second cycles of secondary education (versus a 4 percentage point gap in primary education). Only 33% of girls in the region complete their studies. This gender disparity in completion rates affects youth literacy rates as well, which in 2019 was 73% for boys and 60% for girls.

A large proportion of young people become sexually active in adolescence:

No less than 16% of girls and 12% of boys aged 15-24 becoming sexually active before the age of 15, and the percentage of girls who have had sex before the age of 18 varying, from between 36% in Senegal and 84% in Liberia.

The high percentage of adolescents and young people who started their sexual life before turning 18 calls for better access to and better use of sexual and reproductive health services suited to their needs and quality comprehensive education and information provided as early as primary school. This requires the establishment of a legal, policy and social context suitable for programmes in this area.

WCA has high rates of early and unintended pregnancy.

Early and unintended pregnancies are responsible for many girls dropping out of school, as well as for health complications, such as a higher than the norm rate of neonatal mortality. EUPs also significantly contribute to the high rate of maternal mortality in some countries in the region. In WCA, 33% of women gave birth before the age of 18 years, and 3.5% of adolescents before the age of 15 years. Of the 10 countries in the world with the highest percentages of pregnancies before the age of 18 years, seven are in WCA. Further, birth rates in the region for girls aged 10-14 years are the highest in the world, and have increased between 2000 and 2017 in some countries, such as Cameroon, Congo, Guinea, and Nigeria. There has been progress in others, like Sierra Leone.

There is low access to adolescent and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.

There are numerous obstacles to access to and use of SRH services in the region, in particular:

Services that are often virtually non-existent or not easily accessible without means of transport (especially in rural areas).
High costs of services in certain countries/ points of service that make them unaffordable for adolescents and young people.
Information and services that are not adapted to the specific needs of adolescents and young people or service standards that are not implemented.
A legal, policy, and social context that does not sufficiently safeguard the rights to education, and is not always aligned with countries’ national and regional commitments.

The outcome of these obstacles is that only 15% (unweighted average) of young women aged 15-24 who are married or in a union, or their sexual partner, use at least one contraceptive method, and all countries in the region, except Cabo Verde, have a rate of contraceptive use that is below 50%. Two-thirds of countries have a rate below 12%.

Varying maternal mortality rates threaten maternal health.

The same obstacles in terms of access to and use of SRH services exist for prenatal care, thereby affecting maternal health of adolescents. There is a direct connection between maternal mortality and access to health services, as seen in Gabon, which has one of the region’s lowest maternal mortality rates for the 20-24 years age range, correlating with the highest percentage of childbirths in the presence of a trained health provider and access to prenatal care. In the rest of the region, the maternal mortality rate among adolescents aged 15-19 varies vastly from country to country, with only 8% of adolescent deaths linked to pregnancy in Burundi, for example, but more than 50% in Chad.

Young people have limited knowledge of HIV.

Young people are continuing to acquire HIV in WCA. The total number of new HIV infections among young people aged 15-24 in the region was estimated to be 69,000 in 2019 and among these young women remain disproportionately affected. New infections among young people are the result of limited knowledge about HIV and limited access to preventive and care services, as well as to the context in which the youth live and interact. In WCA, only 24% of boys and 22% of girls aged 15-19 have comprehensive HIV knowledge.

Substance use is varying among young people.

In WCA, alcohol and tobacco use among adolescents and young people is higher than that of illegal drugs. Adolescents aged 15-19 tend to consume less alcohol than the total population, but this gap disappears for those in the 20-24 age range.

Alcohol consumption rates in WCA in countries where alcohol sale is allowed among 15-19 year-olds vary from 11.8% to 59%.

Tobacco is often the first substance used by adolescents and young people. In sub-Saharan Africa, 18% of youth aged 15-24 (21% of boys and 13% of girls) used tobacco in the previous month.

Mental health is important to reduce risky behavior.

Given that mental disorders also affect adolescents and young people and that they can be linked to increased substance use and risky sexual and non-sexual behaviours, a holistic response to the needs of adolescents and young people is required. This is particularly important in light of the WHO estimate that half of mental health problems start at age 14 and for the most part go undetected and untreated. Childhood and adolescence are therefore key moments in the development of an individual to equip them, through life skills-based education, with resilience and the tools they need to stay healthy.

Adolescence is a period of human development when norms related to gender are reinforced, and when these gender and other social norms bring about increased health risks (peer pressure, toxic masculinity, GBV, among others), at the very time when adolescents usually have the least access to preventive and curative services.

Child marriage threatens girls’ opportunities.

Child marriage further exposes girls to domestic violence, STIs, including HIV, and reduces access to education and jobs. It is also closely linked to early pregnancies in WCA. In the region, marrying young is associated with reduced use of modern contraceptives, as well as with higher fertility. A number of factors affect the rate of child marriage, including the historical and cultural dimension of marriage, as well as economic and social contexts. These include gender norms and roles, as well as social expectations and obligations. Poverty, education costs, and the need to ease the financial load of a child and supplement household income are major contributory factors to the high rate of child marriage as well.

Female genital mutilation and cutting remains high in some areas.

The region is home to 18 countries that practice female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). In some countries, only certain ethnic groups practice FGM/C and at variable levels of intensity. In others, FGM/C prevalence has declined, including Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. Furthermore, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) notes that in some countries “the generational trend is clearly towards ending the practice”. This trend is noted in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, and, to a lesser extent, Sierra Leone.

Nevertheless, data from the region’s 17 countries on the prevalence of FGM/C still shows a very high rate in some countries, especially in rural areas. In six countries, prevalence exceeds 50%, and in Guinea nearly 92% of girls aged 15-19 are subjected to FGM/C.

Harassment, violence, and gender-based violence remains a widespread problem.

Harassment, violence, and GBV are prevalent in WCA and happen anywhere: at school, at home, online, or in the community. It should be noted that available data falls far short of real cases. This is mainly because it is a taboo topic, there is a culture of silence, and reporting mechanisms are ill-adapted. Of grave concern, the prevalence of harassment at school is 48%, and sub-Saharan Africa is one of the only regions in the world where rates of harassment at school have in fact increased. Sexual violence in schools continues to be a problem in several countries across the region as well.