GENEVA 18 December 2014 - There is growing recognition of the importance of addressing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents and young people. According to a WHO-led Special Supplement in the Journal of Adolescent Health – published online today – which marks the twentieth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, efforts must be intensified to ensure that the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents (10-19 years) and young people (10-24 years) are met and their rights fulfilled.
11 October is the UN International Day of the Girl Child. This year’s theme is “Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence”. Adolescence is a critical period that can determine the trajectory of girls’ lives. It is a stage at which key investments and support can set girls on a path towards empowerment, or when discrimination, recurrent constraints, harmful practices, and violence can send them down a negative spiral with lifelong consequences, not just for themselves, but for societies and future generations.
While physical, psychological and social development extends from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, there is growing recognition that early adolescence (10-14 years) is an especially crucial phase. There is also widespread recognition that early adolescence has been/is being neglected both in research and in action.
When national Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health strategies are not implemented effectively, adolescents and young people are unable to obtain the sexuality and reproductive health education they need in their schools and communities, and sexual and reproductive health services they need from health facilities in their communities. The result is unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and STIs including HIV infection.