A narrative review of Ghanaian policies and interventions supporting young people’s sexual agency

Ocran, BE ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0300-7403, Brady, G ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3431-6543, Alldred, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5077-7286 and Nyashanu, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9231-0393, 2025. A narrative review of Ghanaian policies and interventions supporting young people’s sexual agency. Social Sciences, 14 (4): 199. ISSN 2076-0760

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Abstract

Adolescence represents a vital transitional phase during which young people actively explore and engage with their sexual identity and expression. However, in Sub-Saharan African contexts, such as Ghana, prevailing socio-cultural norms can inhibit the recognition of young people as sexual beings, thereby restricting their ability to engage with their sexuality. It is essential to examine structural interventions, particularly sexual and reproductive health initiatives, to understand how they can better address the challenges within the Ghanaian context, where the conceptualization of young people’s sexuality remains problematic, because socio-cultural norms recognize only adults, and not young people, as sexual beings. This narrative review evaluates existing SRH policies in Ghana and analyzes evidence from schools, communities, and families to discern how young people’s sexuality is perceived. An overview of overarching policies shows a fragmented intersectoral approach, emphasizing an abstinence-based curriculum, while incorporating some elements of comprehensive sexuality education like condom use. Investigation into community, school, and home interventions reveals ambivalent attitudes toward young people’s sexuality, with a mix of acceptance and rejection of their sexuality, moral support for abstinence, and varying views on contraception. Further analysis using the sociology of childhood suggests that the incoherent framework for young people’s sexual and reproductive health, identified through this study’s reviews, is inadequate for a comprehensive understanding of young people’s sexuality. The existing sexual and reproductive health framework may not effectively challenge negative cultural norms and socio-cultural contexts that sustain the perception of young people as asexual beings. Therefore, implementing existing structural interventions within a comprehensive sexuality education framework is crucial to effectively tackle negative cultural norms and the contexts that marginalize young people’s sexuality.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Social Sciences
Creators:	Ocran, B.E., Brady, G., Alldred, P. and Nyashanu, M.
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date:	24 March 2025
Volume:	14
Number:	4
ISSN:	2076-0760
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/socsci14040199 DOI 2417099 Other
Rights:	© 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	28 Mar 2025 10:34
Last Modified:	28 Mar 2025 10:34
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53313

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