Youth
Of the 6.3 billion people on earth, nearly half are under the age of 25 – the largest youth
generation in history. Their world is radically different from the one their parents knew as young
people. New modes of mass communications and transportation, new technologies and
globalization have transformed what it means to be young. So have the spread of HIV/AIDS,
armed conflict and migration.
Investing in young people, providing them with education and offering them the information
and services they need to make informed decisions about their lives is key to breaking the
generational cycle of poverty and ensuring a better future.
The Situation
HIV/AIDS is increasingly a disease of youth: people aged 15-24 account for half of the 5
million new cases each year. Girls are at greater risk than boys: 62 percent of young people
living with HIV worldwide are female.1
More than half of young people in a survey of 40 countries had misconceptions about how
HIV/AIDS is transmitted.2
HIV/AIDS has orphaned more than 14 million children, many of whom become homeless
and live on the street. Global estimates of homeless children range from 100 million to 250
million. 3
In Latin America and the Caribbean, 35 percent of sexually active teenagers aged 15-19 use
contraceptives; in sub-Saharan Africa fewer than 20 percent do.4
Early marriage and childbirth threaten the health of young women. Pregnancy-related
complications are a leading cause of death for young women aged 15 to 19 worldwide.5
Discrimination and sexual violence against adolescent girls are pervasive. Yet no reliable
statistics exist on sexual trafficking, female genital cutting, domestic violence, and forced
sexual initiation and marriage.6
A quarter of the world’s young people survive on less than a dollar a day.7
Each day, 5,000 children become refugees from countries suffering armed violence. In 2000,
an estimated 300,000 child soldiers were involved in armed conflicts around the world.8
Of the 115 million children worldwide who do not attend primary school, 57 percent are
girls. Of the 153 million young people in developing countries who are illiterate, 96 million
are young women.9
Developments and Trends
The ICPD Programme of Action called for special attention to adolescents’ needs for
comprehensive, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health programs and services, as
well as for peer education and sex education in and out of school.
Ten years later, most projects remain small-scale, and many young people still lack access
to the services and information they need to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies
and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Programs in South Africa, Senegal and Brazil are helping young men define masculinity in a
more equitable way. These programs include focus groups that feature discussions about
male expectations in relationships and their attitudes towards the needs and desires of girls
and young women.10
To achieve the goals set at ICPD and ICPD+5, governments around the world have
developed (or are developing) policies and programs to meet adolescents’ comprehensive
sexual and reproductive health needs.11 Case studies are available on such policies and
programs in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Mozambique, Jordan, Kenya and Viet
Nam.
Young people around the world are mobilizing to ensure the promotion and protection of
their reproductive and sexual health and rights. They have created regional, national and
international coalitions to promote these rights in decision-making bodies at all levels.
Areas for Action
At ICPD+5 in 1999, governments agreed to ensure that 90 percent of adolescents would
have access to comprehensive sexuality and reproductive health information by 2005, as
well as access to education and services that would enable them to protect themselves
against HIV and unwanted pregnancies. Yet in a recent study of 107 countries, 44 (41
percent) did not include information about HIV/AIDS in their school curricula.12
Despite the progress in girls’ access to education, more needs to be done. Out of the 121
million primary school-age children worldwide who are not attending school, 65 million are
girls.13
The most successful reproductive and sexual health programs for adolescents involve them
in the programs’ design, implementation and evaluation. In addition, these programs offer
broad reproductive health choices rather than limited ones.
1
UNFPA, State of World Population 2003: Making 1 Billion Count, UNFPA, New York, 2003, p.23
2
Ibid. p. 24
3
International Youth Foundation, Annual Report 2001: I Want to Belong, Baltimore MD, 2001
4
UNFPA, State of World Population 2003: Making 1 Billion Count, UNFPA, New York, 2003, p. 24
5
Ibid. p.39
6
Ibid. p. 15
7
International Youth Foundation, Annual Report 2001: I Want to Belong, Baltimore MD, 2001
8
UN High Commission on Refugees, www.unchr.ch/fdrs/ga99/children.htm
9
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Concise Report on World Population Monitoring: Population, Education and
Development, (E/CN 9/2003/2), United Nations, New York, 2003
10
UNFPA, State of World Population 2003: Making 1 Billion Count, UNFPA, New York, 2003, p.18
11
Ibid. p.32
12
Ibid. p.31
13
UNICEF, State of the Worlds’ Children 2004, pp. 5-7.
June 2004