Reproductive and sexual health
Introduction
Reproductive and sexual health is an essential aspect of various stages of life and especially among adolescents and youths. This is because there has been an increasing number of teenage and unexpected pregnancies over the years, and the incidences remain alarming. Besides, the diseases and infections that result from sexual and reproductive health being compromised contribute so much to the global burden of the illness annually. Moreover, the environment in which young people are growing today is very different from the context in which their parents. For instance, the current generation has greater access to the internet and also to formal education. Besides, they have greater exposure through different avenues like social media and telecommunications. Therefore, the environment in which young people are making reproductive and sexual decisions is rapidly increasing and evolving. As a result, the young generation is more predisposed to reproductive and sexual health issues than the past generations.
Research outside of healthy people
Consequently, marriage and childbearing are increasingly becoming unlinked, and there are so many children out of wedlock. This is a result of early and unprotected sexual activities, which has also resulted in a high prevalence of HIV, among other sexually transmitted infections among adolescents. For instance, in developing countries like the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, in all states, but a few AIDs is a generalized epidemic. Infections among young people are becoming disproportionate and accounting for almost a third of the people living with AIDs in the region. Research has also shown that for millions of adolescents globally, this growth does not only bring about changes in their body but also brings about new vulnerabilities. For instance, they become more vulnerable to abuse of their human rights, especially in the arenas of marriage, sexuality, and childbearing.
Importance of this indicator to the health of the population
Besides, many adolescents are coerced into unhealthy situations that ultimately compromise their reproductive and sexual health. For example, millions are forced into unwanted marriages or sex. As a result, they are at risk of unsafe abortions, unwanted pregnancies, dangerous childbirth, and even sexually transmitted infections. However, adolescent boys are also at risk even though the risk may be lower. Therefore, both boys and girls are disproportionately infected with sexually transmitted infections. Even though young people have access to the right information regarding reproductive and sexual health, many face barriers concerning this information and care. For instance, some people have access to accurate information regarding sexual health as well as their rights, but they are unable to have access to the services they require to maintain their health.
Objectives
This indicator campaigns for the support of sexual and reproductive health by individuals, organizations, and even governments. As a result, it is aimed at making it easier for adolescents to have access to comprehensive sexuality education within families. Therefore, this indicator can provide services to diagnose, prevent, and treat various sexually transmitted infections as well as family planning counseling. Besides, reproductive and sexual health focuses on empowering young people to know and defend their rights, especially as far as sexuality is concerned. These rights include the right to refuse unwanted sexual advances and the right to delay marriage.
Besides, this indicator has an objective to reduce the incidences of induced abortion. Moreover, it aims to make the various methods of contraceptives available and accessible to all those who want to use them. It also focuses on widening and improving the range of contraception options available to those who wish to use them. Also, education on reproductive and sexual health among adolescents has an objective of enhancing the knowledge of people and to increase the use of male contraceptives. Lastly, it wants to remind and improve the understanding of couples and individuals and encourage them to make free and informed decisions to reduce the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies. As a result, it is aimed at making every child be a wanted child.
Interventions and resources
Sexual and reproductive health education among adolescents should include more than just messages on abstinence. This is primarily because of the high incidences of multiple partnerships, early sexual debut, and high rates of HIV infections. However, evaluations should be well designed to back up the assessments that are required to provide evidence for the quality and contents of intervention. Many of the adolescents who are at a higher risk are no longer in school, and therefore, their cases are missed by the school-based programs. As a result, both in school and out of school youths and adolescents should be targeted. Moreover, the gaps between parent-child interactions should be minimized. This is to ensure that what parents intend to communicate to the adolescents about is precisely what the adolescents are getting out of the communications.
Governments are the primary providers of resources required for reproductive and sexual health among adolescents. Therefore, various governments should consider the SRH needs requiring to meet their objectives and then allocate and relocate resources. These resources could be insurance, prepayments, and the usual taxes. However, the private sector also contributes to resources since they can provide services that otherwise could not be there. Besides, international donor communities such as the World Bank, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNAIDs, as well as philanthropic organizations also provide resources necessary for reproductive and sexual being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to attain the objectives, the progress in the implementation of strategies should be monitored frequently. This can be done by use of the indicators provided by the WHO as a guideline for measuring success. Besides, the gap between knowledge and the change in sexual behavior among adolescents should be narrowed. Moreover, if the situation is to be improved, then the information on sexual and reproductive health relayed to adolescents should avoid gender biases as much as possible.