The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42895

Margaret E. Greene, PhD, Zohra Rasekh, MPH, and Kali-Ahset Amen, MA. Research Department, Population Action International, 1300 19th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036, 202-557-3404, mgreene@popact.org

The international community has repeatedly agreed to take an approach to youth sexual and reproductive health that reflects young people’s rights to health and gives them the means to safeguard it. Yet most young people are denied both information and services by adults — relatives, teachers, and policy makers — who often neither model healthful behavior nor prepare young people for adulthood in circumstances vastly different from those they faced while growing up.

This research contrasts policies affecting youth reproductive health in Ghana, India, Iran, Mali, Mexico, the United States, and the Netherlands. Based on an extensive analysis of the literature and interviews in each of these seven countries, the paper highlights social and political obstacles to supportive policies, and the strategies that have — or could — overcome these obstacles. Iran’s sex education efforts, Mexico’s youth advocacy movement, Ghana’s adolescent reproductive health policy, and the Netherlands’ treatment of healthful sexuality as part of citizenship — all illustrate that the world’s countries have much to learn from each other as they work to support the reproductive lives of young people.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, the participant will be able to
• Recognize the common challenges to addressing young people's reproductive lives that every country in the world faces;
• Compare the US with countries as diverse as Iran and the Netherlands in how they are or aren't addressing youth sexual and reproductive health;
• Identify specific strategies for policy development and advocacy that draw on the experiences of other countries.

Keywords: Adolescents, Reproductive Health

Related Web page: www.populationaction.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.