Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Lives

Young women or adolescent girls are a world within themselves. Though the spark of extensive economic reforms and globalisation in the last few decades seems to have forced its way through this world the health care needs of adolescence the stage which bridges childhood and adulthood traditionally remained unattended for long. However it suddenly seems to have come into prominence with more focused attention from researchers and policy-makers throughout the developing world. Serious behavioural studies on the status of the reproductive and sexual health of young boys and girls have started showing how little we know about this silent but total transition in this vital organ of our society. The status of this newly discovered world and the scope of its needs have been examined and comprehensively unfurled by a recently published report of the Alan Guttmacher Institute (1998). The research for and publication of this well-edited report is part of a three-year project on youth worldwide undertaken by the Alan Guttmacher Institute in collaboration with organisations from 13 developing countries. The main theme of this report is centered around the needs of young women in this rapid and chaotic age of societal transition. How are they to be prepared physically and otherwise to deal with the major aspects of womens lives e.g. sexual relationships marriage and childbearing? Are the health and population programmes in developing countries appropriately equipped and aligned to cater to their specific needs? What is the evidence of the positive impact of enhancing economic and social opportunities on the sexual and reproductive health behaviour of adolescents? The report based on the data collected from a large number of countries succinctly documents the collected evidence and helps us build our own hypotheses on the above and many other questions. (excerpt)