Two members of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis have received a 2025 Seed Grant from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) to study sexual risk behaviors among adolescent girls in Ghana, drawing insights from both mothers and daughters.
The grant recipients are Proscovia Nabunya, associate professor at the Brown School and director of the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD); Portia Nartey, a third-year doctoral student in social work and research associate at ICHAD; and Juliet Iwelunmor, professor of medicine and associate director for global health and dissemination at WashU Medicine. Nartey will work under the mentorship of Nabunya and Iwelunmor.
The research will focus on Ghana’s eastern region, which faces high poverty rates and elevated sexual risk behaviors among young people. Previous studies show that about one in 10 Ghanaian adolescent girls begin sexual activity before age 15, increasing their risk of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, and teenage pregnancies.
The project aims to identify the prevalence and predictors of sexual risk behaviors among adolescent girls. It will also examine the barriers and facilitators that shape sexual and reproductive health education and communication between mothers and daughters. The study seeks to provide a culturally responsive framework for understanding how family relationships influence adolescent behaviors.
Nartey said the project reflects her longstanding commitment to advancing the well-being and development of adolescent girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa.
“It’s exciting and fulfilling to see my passion translate into a fundable research idea,” Nartey said. “I am especially grateful for the opportunity to work closely with a population I deeply care about: adolescent girls in low-resourced communities, whose well-being and development I am wholeheartedly committed to advancing. This work is more than academic for me; it is a lifelong mission.”
The study will be conducted in collaboration with scholars from the University of Ghana.