Programs Reproductive Health
Like all young people, displaced adolescents have special needs during their years of development. However, due to forced displacement from their homes, exposure to violence, acute poverty and separation from their families and communities, displaced adolescents face additional difficulties that affect their reproductive health (RH). They often lack sufficient education, health care, protection, livelihood, recreational activities and friendship and family support. Furthermore, displaced adolescents may begin sexual relations at an earlier age and take more sexual risks, such as having sexual intercourse without using a condom. They are more vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation in the absence of traditional socio-cultural constraints.
These conditions may limit adolescents’ access to information about their RH and lead to escalating unsafe sexual practices, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions and increasing their exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. In situations of conflict, the dearth of youth-friendly services is a significant barrier to ensuring young people’s right to a healthy and productive life. It is important to recognize that adolescents can be a part of the solution in addressing this gap. Their participation in the assessment, design and implementation of RH programs should be incorporated into relief efforts, as adolescents are creative, energetic and important agents for constructive change within their communities.
The Women’s Commission supports two adolescent RH networks made up of community-based organizations on the Thai-Burmese border. The groups promote recognition of adolescent reproductive health and rights in internally displaced areas in Burma, in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border and among migrant workers. The networks do so by increasing the knowledge and capacity of network members to plan, implement, manage and evaluate their projects. Workshops have been provided to Burmese adolescents living in factories, attending migrant schools, in refugee camps and in villages along the Thai-Burma border, Chinese border and some villages inside Burma.
To learn some key messages and Facts and Stats about reproductive health for displaced adolescents, click here.
