One of the biggest challenges for youth relates to a lack of access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services.
This was outlined during the International Youth Day 2022, and it serves as a reminder to build intergenerational solidarity for the well-being of young people in the Pacific.
The international community celebrates Youth Day on 12 August every year, which demonstrates the importance of young people not only for the future of our society but as the backbone of our lives today, says a statement issued.
“This is certainly true for the Pacific region, where around 59 percent of the population is younger than 29 years and 28 percent of the population is between 10 and 24 years.”
This “youth bulge” comes with challenges and opportunities.
“For most young people, while discovering their sexuality and entering romantic relationships is exciting, the transition to adulthood would also require that adolescents gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and to develop respectful relationships.
However, many young people in the Pacific seem to lack the knowledge and life-skills to make informed and safe choices about their sexual and reproductive lives.
This gap stems from a variety of factors including gender inequalities, discrimination against women and girls, and conservative social and cultural norms such as negative views on premarital sexual behaviour.”
The statement says that parents are often reluctant to discuss these issues, and healthcare workers are often hesitant or ill-equipped to provide information or services on sexual health to adolescents and youth.
“These factors have in turn led to high levels of sexual and gender-based violence in the Pacific region, a growing prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as the worrisome increase in the birth rate among adolescent girls.
When girls become pregnant, their health is endangered, their education and job prospects are compromised, and even after they manage to safely deliver a baby such young mothers can become more vulnerable to greater poverty and exclusion.”
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)—the UN sexual and reproductive health agency—is addressing these issues in the Pacific through various programmes supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the European Union.
These programmes are implemented across eight countries including the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Intergenerational solidarity can help ensure comprehensive sexuality education
The gap in sexual and reproductive information and services for young people speaks to the very need for intergenerational solidarity, the theme for this year’s International Youth Day.
Older generations can help eliminate taboos and make sure that younger generations can learn, ask questions, and access information on traditionally uncomfortable topics such as sexuality and reproduction.
One way in which older generations can help make this happen is by supporting programmes such as family life education (FLE), also known as comprehensive sexuality education (CSE).
FLE is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of transition from adolescence to adulthood as a responsible member of a society ready to form a family.
It aims to equip children and young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will empower them to protect their health, well-being and dignity; develop respectful social and sexual relationships; consider the well-being of the others; and understand the importance of protecting their rights throughout their lives.
Quality FLE is essential for young people to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies, STIs and HIV/AIDS. Importantly, FLE enables young people to cherish and promote tolerance, mutual respect and non-violence in relationships.
Through the different initiatives, UNFPA is working with Pacific governments to integrate FLE into the formal education curriculum and into community-led programmes targeting adolescents and youth.
The implementation of FLE however often faces the reluctance by parents and community elders in supporting it. Many feel that school-age youth are too young to receive FLE and that the topics it covers are inappropriate for young adolescents, for instance, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and violence against women and girls. Teachers also lack the training to teach these topics to young people.
UNFPA has therefore been partnering with governments to work with teachers, schools, parents, and communities to help implement FLE, both in school and out of school.
This involves designing and updating curricula, training teachers, and advocating for the importance of FLE for young people and for societies and economies as a whole. CSE “gives young people the tools they need to have healthy lives and relationships. It helps them navigate life-changing decisions about their sexual and reproductive health,” UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, earlier stated.
Young people are indeed the future of a society, and the future will be much brighter if the whole society cooperates across generations towards an even more prosperous and equitable world for all.
