KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF YOUTH TOWARDS REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ISSUES
At present, there are already changes on the knowledge, attitude and perception among youth about reproductive health issues. The improved lifestyles and reproductive health practices among youth is generally recognized as a key development priority today for preventable and healthy sexual practices. According to different surveys, there are huge numbers of youth today who are not somewhat learning the importance of reproductive health issues for them. However, there are some adolescents (both boys and girls) who said that they are able to get important source of information about reproductive health from their group of friends, with the girls; they ask their mothers and elder sisters about the sexual issues. In the contrary, the boys prefer to learn reproductive health issues through their friends, reading men’s magazines as well as watching movies, and TV shows that are sexually related. Surveys also reveal that almost one of every five youth is already having sexual intercourse. And, there are number of boys who are reportedly using condom for safe sex. In the same manner, there are also some numbers of girls who are having sex, and they already use any form of contraceptive. Furthermore, surveys even confirmed that most of the girls now are fully aware about the time during a monthly menstrual cycle that a girl or woman has the highest tendency of getting pregnant when engaged in sexual activities. Moreover, different surveys proved that there are significant increase in the percentage of youth now who could really understand the negative effects and consequences of having an abortion. From fifty percent in the baseline, it has been increased up to seventy percent at the mid-point survey. Nevertheless, despite this fact, there are many early and unwanted pregnancies among youth today; as well as there is a prevailing rate of abortion cases among adolescents through out the world.
(http://www.bhia.org/articles/reproductive-health/adolescentissues.html)
In this connection, the Healthy Life Styles or HLS among Youth is being designed and promoted for the awareness among youth about the healthy lifestyles and reproductive heath issues in a co-ed program. In general, the youth appreciate the vital information that they get from this program; they even share their personal views with their families and friends. The HLS trainers and peer educators treat the youth as their friends and not students. And since the surveys show that youth are usually seeking advice from their friends with regard to sexual issues; HLS really plays a unique important role for the youth in order to teach them more effectively on the reproductive heath issues. This program has been bringing good and favorable results to the youth. Through this program there are many numbers of youth nowadays who are open to their families, especially to their parents about sex education. Relatively, according to the large number of youth- participants, they easily get more sexual information through mass media such as TV, radio and magazines which have become the primary sources of information about reproduction health. The primary goal of this project worldwide is to improved youth’s sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitude and practices through community participation. As a result, there are various Advocates for Youth all over the globe who really joint efforts to meet the 80 million unintended or unplanned pregnancies among youth around the globe; and more than half of this number ends up in abortion. Based on the record of Population.org, there are 150 million teenagers who are living in developing countries admitted that they engage in sexual activities without using any form of contraception. This is the major reason that one third of all new sexually transmitted diseases are prevailing among younger people below twenty five years of age. Correspondingly, the Planned Parenthood of New York City recorded a 15 million youth population who are at risk of having STI’s, and 3 million of them are mostly teenagers. Equally important is the fact that young women are more susceptible of sexually transmitted infections because of the fact that they do not use protection while engaging in sex. Plus the fact, those most young women today have multiple sexual partners which even make them more prone to STI’s. With all these in mind, reproductive health issues among young people are the best prevention against unwanted pregnancies, abortion and most of all against acquiring viruses and all sexually transmitted diseases.
(http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/topics-issues/youth-in-low-and-middle-income-countries/916?task=view)
Subsequently, there are many reproductive health programs that are massively promoted worldwide in order to disseminate information to the young people on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and HIV; as well as to know the importance of family planning and birth control. These programs also motivate the parent-child relationship to become solid through having a communication line between them. These programs likewise provide educational activities such as theatre, dance and public video showing and forums about the importance of reproductive health services for the young population.
(http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/topics-issues/youth-in-low-and-middle-income-countries/916?task=view)
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