Identifying Policy Implementation Gaps to Address the Intersecting Burdens of Mental Health Problems and Adolescent Pregnancy in Peru.

Despite significant policy efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health services and mental health services, Peru, like other Latin American countries, has a high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy as well as a high frequency of mental health problems, especially among female adolescents. Through the development of implementation research, this project aims to identify why and how public policies designed to address the sexual and reproductive health and mental health needs of adolescent girls are achieving their goals and validating an intervention to improve these policies. The project, which will be developed in coordination with a critical public entity, The Roundtable for the Fight against Poverty (Mesa de Concertación Para la Lucha Contra la Pobreza -MCLCP), focused on the dialogue exchange between civil society and governmental actors to improve public policies, comprises five interlinked components: 1) policy analysis, 2) analysis of adolescent expectations of health services, 3) analysis of the quality of care provided at sexual and reproductive and mental health services to adolescents, 4) interventio, 5) transversal advocacy component to be developed with the MCLCP. The project will focus on female adolescents from the poorest poverty quintiles and includes a particular focus on two groups of vulnerable adolescents: indigenous and Venezuelan migrants.