With World Population Day (July 11) around the corner, experts say India’s thrust should be on ensuring the sexual and reproductive health of its young people.
A study that referenced the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) concluded that there is a significant association between years of schooling and total unmet needs for family planning and unmet needs for spacing.
According to the study: “The demand for unmet needs for spacing and limiting was the highest among the women in the age categories 15–19 (17.8%) and 20–24 (17.3%).”
This is primarily due to two factors: women who get married very young are usually from backward regions and not very educated, and therefore, their agency to negotiate or even talk about family planning is limited
The other issue, is that the country is increasingly seeing teenage pregnancies both among married and unmarried women, and yet, families are unwilling to accept that their unmarried children may be sexually active.
This is compounded by the lack of sex education.
Globally, evidence has shown that where sex education is given, the sexual debut of a young person is postponed. It also helps eradicate misconceptions.
In India, for a young person to even access condoms or any other form of contraception is culturally and socially against norms
There is an urgent need to focus on young people, and on their sexual and reproductive health through culturally sensitive behaviour change communication, and by offering them a basket of contraceptive options to meet their needs.
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