Adolescents represent approximately one third of Bangladesh population. In Bangladesh, family structure is still very strong and plays a major role in the lives of adolescents. The family provides support, love and a caring environment but fails to respond to the need for sexual information for adolescents. Increase in age at marriage, urbanization, expose to mass media and increasing opportunities for socialization with opposite sex have exposed adolescents to the risk of unwanted pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS. Now the challenge is to help adolescents to prevent adverse outcomes and promote positive things in their life. This study tests the feasibility of creating adolescent reproductive health care services through a package of interventions including 1) creating supportive environment in the community and in the schools, 2) setting up adolescent friendly clinical services, and 3) conducting sexual and reproductive health education sessions among in-school and out-of-school adolescents. A quasi-experimental design and pre-post measurement was used. In the pre-intervention survey, information on reproductive health and sexual behavior of 2971 adolescents were collected. Survey results revealed that 136 (5%) adolescents had sexual exposure. The mean age at first sexual experience was 15 years. Of the sexually active male, 39.4% had with commercial sex workers (CSWs). Of them 56% had never used condom. 12% had experienced sign and symptoms of STDs and only 7% sought treatment. A total of 4500 adolescents of aged 13-19 years are under the intervention program. The paper presents preliminary findings and lessons learned during the process of implementation.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Adolescents, HIV Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.