Transcript Status of youth Sexual and Reproductive health Rights in

STATUS OF YOUTH SEXUAL AND
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS IN
AFRICA: WHAT ARE THE ISSUES OF
CONCERN.
Chioma Ekwo
Program Officer
WHARC
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
 Background
 Meaning
of Reproductive Health.
 Meaning of Reproductive Rights.
 Reproductive Health Rights.
 Issues of concern in YSRHR
 Challenges in improving YSRHR.
 Approaches in improving YSRHR
 Recommendations
 Conclusion
BACKGROUND
 Recent
demographic data indicate that Africa is
populated by 1,022,234,000 populace making it
the second most populous continent in the planet
after Asia.
 Most of the populace consist largely of youths.
 African youths continue to be weighed down with
several challenges and difficulties:
illiteracy, unemployment, high rates of poverty,
Violence, substance abuse and other abnormal
social behaviors.
BACKGROUND CONTINUES…
 Due
to lack of investment in youth
development by Africans to secure its
growth and economic prosperity.
 It
is therefore not surprising that African
have adverse reproductive health
outcomes.
WHAT IS REPRODUTIVE HEALTH
“a state of complete physical,
mental, and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or
infirmity, in all matters relating to the
reproductive system and to its
functions and processes”.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
CONTINUE
Men and women should be able to
enjoy a satisfying and safe sex life,
have the capability to reproduce and
the freedom to decide if, when and
how often to do so and this requires
informed choice and access to safe,
effective, affordable and acceptable
health-care services.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
These are based on human rights
recognised in international human
rights declarations, treaties and other
instruments.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INCLUDE
 The
same right of men and women to marry
only with their free and full consent.
 Right of access to information.
 Right to the highest attainable standard of
health.
 Right to privacy.
 Right education
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
CONTINUES
 Right
to freedom from discrimination (on the
basis of gender, marital status, age,
race and ethnicity, health status/disability).
ISSUES OF CONCERN
Denied
assess to information on
sexual and reproductive health.
Gender inequality
Child marriage
Poor education and youth
development.
unwanted pregnancy
Exposure to STI/ HIV
ISSUES OF CONCERN
CONTINUES
 Unsafe
Abortion: Abortion is the
termination of pregnancy before term.
 Maternal mortality: death of a woman
during pregnancy, childbirth or six
weeks after childbirth.
 Female genital cutting: is partial of
complete removal of the female
external genital and most times
causes difficulties in childbirth
 Sexual violence
CHALLENGES IN IMPROVING
YSRHR
 Although
there is growing willingness
and commitment by both national and
international bodies to establish the
rights of youths to access sexual and
reproductive health information, there
are challenges in the implementation
of policies and programs that address
YSRH in Africa and these challenges
include political, economic, religious
and cultural barriers.
APPROACHES IN IMPROVING
YSRHR
 Challenge
social stigmas that prevent
services from meeting the needs of youth
 Expand access to quality information and
engage in advocacy to advance youth
SRHR
 Support education and policies to
address gender and economic
inequalities
 Improve girls’ health and development by
significantly reducing child marriage
APPROACHES IN IMPROVING YSRHR
CONTINUES….
 Advocate
for youth friendly services that
provide an approachable, responsive
environment and offer young people the
information, skills and means to make
safe choices regarding their
reproductive health.
RECOMMENDATION


Sex and family life education for
youths.
We must develop the human
capital of youths today and begin
to hold government accountable.
CONCLUSION
Youth Sexual and Reproductive
health is an indispensable
accelerator of sustainable
development
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING