“Boys Remain Prestigious, Girls Become Prostitutes”: Socio-Cultural Context of Relationships and Sex among Young People in Nepal

One of the key characteristics of many developing countries compared to more developed countries is that theirpopulation is relatively young, and a proportion of those young people are becoming sexually active each year.The last two decades has seen a growing concern worldwide of the spread of HIV/AIDS, but, of course, youngpeople face a range of socio-economic, cultural, psychological and sexual health-related problems at that time oftheir life. Very little research has been conducted in this area into Nepalese young people’s problems. Ourqualitative study explores key problems faced by Nepalese youths with particular emphasis on sexual andreproductive health issues. The findings of ten focus group discussions with a total of 75 participants and 31in-depth individual interviews indicated that many young people of Nepal face a range socio-economic,psychological, sexual and reproductive health-related problems. Unemployment, less opportunity for sex andentertainment, stress, curiosity, communication gap and poor sex education and sexual health services werefrequently reported problems. In addition there was a gender difference around sex with young women (girls)having fewer opportunities and less freedom than young men (boys). In order improve young people’s sexualhealth, more attention needs to be given to rigorous research and the design and implementation of appropriateinterventions. Young people’s ability to make informed choices about their own health and risk behaviour shouldbe enhanced.