Reproductive Health Services for Adolescents
In Bangladesh, adolescents are mostly deprived from reproductive health (RH) services, especially those who are unmarried. Generally, adolescents have low knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health in our society. Here, majority of adolescents had no idea about changes associated with puberty, until they occurred; such as menstruation or wet dreams. In order to determine the feasibility, effectiveness and cost of creating sustainable ‘adolescent-friendly’ reproductive health care services through a package of interventions; the Population Council designed a multi country operations research project. Participating clinics are open to married and unmarried adolescents, but the project focuses mainly on the needs of unmarried adolescents. In preparation for the intervention, the Population Council conducted a baseline survey on adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes and practices related to sexual and reproductive health. Though the project is ongoing, this paper describes the baseline survey results and preliminary experiences from the project intervention.
Reference:
Bhuiya, I., Rob, U., Khan, M. E., & Al Kabir, A. (2004). Reproductive health services for adolescents: recent experiences from a pilot project in Bangladesh.