At the NGO Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development conference in Berlin last week, we met to discuss the Plan of Action put forth 15 years ago. While there are significant shortfalls in several areas, progress has been made in others. For example, there is more equity in education today than there was 15 years ago.
However, in Cairo there was little, if any, discussion that more than one billion children would be reaching adolescence and sexual maturity during the 20 years in which the Plan of Action would be undertaken.
It’s not just an interesting demographic trend. Women ages 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die complications of pregnancy and childbirth as older women. Currently, 5,000 young people age 15–24 become infected with HIV every day – almost two million new infections each year.
In Berlin, one-third of the attendees are under the age of 30 – many of them from economically developing countries - and they’re serious about the need for (and their commitment to) providing youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services. Over dinner the first night I spoke to a Pakistani women in her early 20s who works with an HIV prevention program in Peshwar, a seriously politically destabilized area. That takes dedication and some bravery.
In most parts of the world, young people’s access to family planning and HIV prevention programs is limited by poverty and access. Further, where there are programs, they are often not designed with young people in mind. I’m impressed and gratified by the dedication of so many of them who are attending this conference to push for policies that change that reality.
