Meeting the Reproductive Health Needs of Young People
August 13th, 2012 | Posted in Reproductive Health, Youth
by Liz Bayer, international fellow at USAID
This post was originally published by IMPACTblog, by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
I first became interested in family planning and reproductive health during a class on health and developing countries in college. It was fascinating to me to learn how access to reproductive health has far-reaching health, economic, and societal impacts. However, I didn’t start focusing on the particular reproductive health needs and rights of young people until I studied abroad in northern Nigeria. There, I met young women and men who had frighteningly incorrect information about sexuality, pregnancy, and HIV. In the market, I saw 12- and 13-year-old girls who were dressed to advertise their eligibility for marriage, and I was told they would begin childbearing within the next year or two. When I graduated from college and started in my position as a Policy Fellow in USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, I brought these lessons with me.
Read the rest of this post at IMPACTblog.
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