This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Development Report.
A new report has been released about sexual and reproductivehealth education for young people around the world. PopulationAction International carried out the study. This not-for-profitorganization is based in New York City.
Researchers examined how sevencountries dealt with the reproductive health needs of their youngpeople. The countries are Mexico, Iran, India, Ghana, Mali, theNetherlands and the United States.
The study found that, except for the Netherlands, most countriesare not doing enough to teach young people the information they needabout reproductive health. For example, there are a growing numberof reproductive health programs in Mali. Yet seventy percent of thenineteen-year-old women in Mali are pregnant or have a child. Twentypercent of the women are married by age fifteen.
In Mexico, the government supports a program of sex education andfamily planning. However, teachers receive little or no training onthe subject. Some do not teach the subject at all.
Amy Coen is the head of Population Action International. She saysthe need for reproductive health policies around the world has neverbeen greater. The group estimates that half of the world’spopulation is younger than twenty-five. That isthree-thousand-million young people. Within the next fifteen years,all of them will have reached reproductive age.
Population Action International says that countries will sufferif they fail to provide boys and girls with the information theyneed to stay healthy and in school. It says young people need toknow about sexuality, family planning and having babies. It saysyoung people also should have the ability to prevent disease andunwanted pregnancies.
In many countries, talking about sex and reproduction isconsidered wrong or against tradition. The group reports a strongresistance among parents, teachers and policy makers to discussissues of sexuality with young people. It says this lack of opennessis putting young people at risk. Young people have a high risk ofdiseases spread by sexual activity, including AIDS. Half of all newinfections of the AIDS virus are among people younger thantwenty-five.
Population Action International says countries that avoid opencommunication about this subject harm their populations.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.