Staff Reporter :
Over 93 per cent of the country’s youth population is not aware of proper reproductive health rights and services, experts said.
They said made the comment while speaking at discussion organized jointly by Lighthouse and Sukhi Jibon Project of USAID in the auditorium of the Bangladesh Shishu Kalyan Parishad in the capital on Thursday.
Speaking at the event, Jatiya Press Club President Farida Yasmin said, “The youths are the vital force of a nation. They should be developed through proper guidelines. Many organizations, including the government, are working in this regard, but it needs to be expanded further.”
In this case, media workers have also played a lot of role, she said.
“The youth should be trained in all subjects including politics, economy and social policy. Especially, they should be given training on modern technology. Otherwise, the wheel of development will stop and fall back,” she said.
“There are more than four and a half crore people aged between 15 to 29 years in the country. But, only seven percent of the country’s vast youth receive services directly from the government health care centers as only one service provider for every 350 people,” said Md Harun-Or-Rashid, Chief Executive of the Light House .
“In other words, 93 percent of the youth population is not aware of proper reproductive health rights and services, and in many cases, they face various health risks including unwanted pregnancy,” he said.
“Awareness, involvement and voluntary participation are needed to avoid this risk,” he opined.
“At the same time, proper training for the youth is dire needed to build a healthy, strong and efficient nation,” he said.
