Perception of reproductive health issues among adolescents in Bangladesh: A gender perspective

About a quarter of the total population are adolescents in Bangladesh without having adequate reproductive health knowledge and information. A survey was conducted to assess adolescents' knowledge of and attitude towards reproductive health in Bangladesh, which included both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Adolescents in general lacked knowledge about pubertal changes and majority of them did not have correct knowledge of human reproduction. Correct knowledge of reproduction was more common among male adolescents compared to female adolescents. Similarities continue for the knowledge of family planning methods too as 85 percent of the male adolescents compared to 62 percent of the female adolescents were aware of that. Male adolescents were more likely to know about the risks of adolescent pregnancy than female adolescents. The knowledge on routes of HIV transmission was good among the male adolescents than female adolescents. Findings also suggest alarmingly low level of knowledge of non-HIV STIs among the female adolescents. Regarding health seeking behavior, female adolescents were more likely to visit health facilities where 14 percent female adolescents visited health facilities for information and services compared to less than one percent of the male adolescents. Multivariate analysis indicates that level of education, affiliation with social organization and exposure to mass media significantly influenced the knowledge of STI transmission and family planning methods. Efforts such as awareness on reproductive health issues, creation of demand for services and provision of adolescent reproductive health services at facilities to improve reproductive health knowledge and to improve health seeking behavior of adolescents.