International Service Project 2022-2024 Final Report: UNICEF Peru Adolescent Girls Health & Protection
In June 2024, the 2022-2024 Zonta International service project partnership with Peru Adolescent Girls Health & Protection came to an end, and since then the project has continued onward. With Zonta International’s support, UNICEF implemented Phase 2 of “Health and protection of adolescent girls in the Huancavelica, Ucayali, Loreto and Northern Lima regions of Peru.” The project continues strengthening the connection of health and education services to prevent pregnancies and all forms of violence.
The adolescent populations in the four focused regions all face different priority problems. Huancavelica is the region with the highest number of suicide attempts by adolescents (15-19 years of age), especially in girls, which has been due to undiagnosed and untreated chronic depression. Ucayali and Loreto are the regions with the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the country. Districts targeted in Northern Lima include a high number of Venezuelan migrants who face unique vulnerabilities, such as lacking permits that allow them access to health insurance and sexual and labor exploitation.
In Phase 2, UNICEF Peru focused on strengthening the health and educations systems through: capacity building of public servants, promotion of health and prevention of violence in schools, prevention, identification, and timely care of mental health problems affecting the adolescent population, and the development of programmes to avoid a second pregnancy at an early age as well as to prevent violence being committed in school environment. This work contributes to improving the response of health and protection services to meet the health and violence prevention needs of adolescents, especially adolescent girls.
Five main achievements were recognized within this phase of the programme:
- Comprehensive health assessments for adolescents: Between January and December 2024, a total number of 11,066 adolescents received comprehensive health assessments in the intervention districts of Huancavelica, Loreto, Ucayali, and Northern Lima. This represents a 90.9% increase compared to the 5,798 adolescents assessed in 2022.
- Mental health risk screenings for adolescents: In 2024, a total of 12,162 mental health risk screenings were conducted among adolescents in the districts. This represents a 76.8% increase compared to the 6,879 screenings carried out in 2022. (54% were adolescent girls). This progress highlights the growing prioritization of adolescent mental health as an integral component of the implemented differentiated health systems.
- Beneficiaries of health promotion actions: In 2024, 16,826 students from 32 schools in the focused regions benefited from health promotion actions, developed jointly between schools and health establishments. Of this total, 8,496 are girls. This represented a 92% increase from students screened in 2023.
- Modification of maternal-neonatal program: Significant modifications have been made to the Ministry of Health’s maternal-neonatal program; expanding the scope of adolescent pregnancy prevention interventions nationwide through the advocacy and technical assistance efforts of the UNICEF project strategies.
- Strengthening the capacity of health personnel: The national institutionalization of the Comprehensive Sexual Education course in community contexts for first-level health personnel has been achieved through the official platform of the National Maternal Perinatal Institute. This free course has been available since June 2023 on the platform in the Ministry of Health’s formal online learning platform. More than 400 primary healthcare professionals were trained, enhancing their skills to deliver comprehensive sexual education to adolescents, their caregivers, and communities. This training significantly contributes to efforts to reduce the adolescent pregnancy rate, indirectly reaching approximately 200,000 adolescents and their families annually.
Violence against children in Peru is a daily occurrence and is normalized as a valid practice to correct, control or exercise power/authority. According to the national survey of social relations, almost 60% of the Peruvian population tolerates violence against children. With the support of Zonta International, UNICEF developed the Programme for the Prevention of Violence in Schools (PREVI), which draws on existing global evidence and a theory of change tailored to the specific needs of the country. By the end of 2025, there will be an evaluation carried out with the Ministry of Education, with the aim of generating solid evidence that the PREVI program’s contributions to transforming the dynamics of violence in schools.
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6 JUNE 2025