Meeting adolescents’ reproductive health needs is an urgent priority in the global fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS, emphasizes the State of World Population 2003 report by UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund.

Neglect and under-funding of programmes enabling young people to avoid unwanted pregnancy, unsafe childbirth and sexually transmitted infections are undermining development and spreading HIV/AIDS; investment to correct this will be repaid many times over. Those are key findings of UNFPA’s annual flagship report, launched early October by the Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

While the largest generation of adolescents in history – 1.2 billion – is preparing to enter adulthood, the 2003 report, subtitled Making 1 Billion Count: Investing in Adolescents’ Health and Rights, rightly focuses on youth, examining the challenges and risks they face in the context of a fast changing world.

“This report is a wake-up call… to listen to young people and acknowledge their needs. It is a wake-up call to increase funding and expand information and services to young people. It is a wake-up call to support them so that they can lead healthy, productive and dignified lives”, stated Ms. Obaid at the launch of the report in London.

“Today, there are more young people than ever before and they face serious risks to their health and well-being. These risks include HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, early pregnancy and marriage, and pervasive gender discrimination and violence. All of these factors are aggravated by poverty”, she said.

“In fact, the report shows that neglect and underfunding of adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health needs are actually perpetuating poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS”, she continued.
The Executive Director stressed the dire need of funding: “Supporting young people in their efforts to delay or avoid pregnancy and to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS can bring enormous health and economic benefits. Yet international funding for population and reproductive health programmes is just 30 per cent of what was agreed upon by Governments in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo”.

The report was launched simultaneously in various cities around the world. In Bangkok, it coincided with the 2nd APCRSH (see page 4). Addressing the latest Conference, Dr. Sheila Macrae referred to the report, stressing that the region had the largest generation of young people in the world.

“Young people need reliable information and sufficient knowledge in order to make informed, responsible and healthy decisions. Yet far too many… remain trapped in ignorance”, Dr. Macrae said. “AIDS has become a disease of young people. Today, half of all new infections occur among youth aged 15 to 24. Each day, 6,000 youth are newly infected, one young person every 14 seconds”, she continued.

UNFPA’s State of World Population has been published annually since 1978. The report is available online at http://www.unfpa.org.