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’Make reproductive health accessible to youths’
2006-01-31 09:09:23
By Deogratius Kiduduye, PST, Mbeya
The society at large should work together to ensure reproductive health services become accessible to all young people, the Family Planning Association of Tanzania (UMATI) Southern Highlands Zonal Co-ordinator, Catherine Ndawi, has said.
In a meeting with parents from Mbeya City eight wards to introduce his association new youth-oriented programme, she said guardians specifically should not tire out of addressing obstacles to young people’s accessibility to reproductive health services.
The new programme, Young Voices for Change, she said would address problems and obstacles facing the young generation in sexual and reproductive health matters.
’Effective implementation of this programme require collective and collaborative efforts so as to enable the young generation make informed and correct decisions about behaviour change and their health in general,’ she said.
Ndawi said the program, which will be implemented in Mbeya, Morogoro and Iringa regions will focus on sensitising the community to remove all obstacles facing the youth in accessing reproductive health education and service.
Some of the obstacles are lack of accurate information among the youth on puberty, contradictory laws, the community’s misconception and negative attitude towards sexual related matters and outdated cultural practices and norms, she said.
’It’s time now to break the silence so as to save the young generation from the consequences that may include adolescent and unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/Aids, which could lead to premature deaths,’ she said.
Speaking at the meeting, Mbeya District Commissioner Moshi Mussa Chang’a who is also UMATI regional chairman for Mbeya said the association’s new policy would focus on the youth.
The youth remains the most vulnerable group in health problems including HIV/Aids infections mainly due to inadequate sexual and reproductive health services and education to meet their needs, he said.
A recent study on Sexual and Adolescent Health (SRH) conducted by another youth led and oriented NGO The Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) revealed that some young people have special needs that should be addressed but SRH services in and out of school have often been ignored.
The report also suggests that the implication of the situation include an increase in pregnancies among sexually active unmarried adolescent females that are also shown to lead to high incidence of abortion and maternal morbidity and mortality underlying the importance of such youth-friendly programs and initiatives.
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