“I have a 2 year
old child and living positively mainly because I had no access to HIV”, these
are words that were spoken in a discussion whereby young people were debating
the importance of accessing Youth Friendly Health Services (YFHS). The narrator
of this heartrending account, a youth worker from Mangochi district, told me
that the girl continued to explain that she firmly believed that if she had
access to YFHS about 3 years ago, the turnout of events in her life could have
been different.
When a certain
youth worker who was facilitating this session told me about the statements, I
felt that the whole nation failed this young girl big time. Why would someone
grow from childhood to adolescence without knowing critical issues about sex
and sexuality? As I have always argued, parents and older relatives also know
that they are supposed to discuss such matters with young people. Every adult
realizes the need to discuss SRHR issues with a growing up young person.
However, shyness forces people to continuously curtail such important sessions
until it becomes too late to so. The consequences are so dire and at times
irreparable.
I for one
believe that older citizens as well as duty bearers should know that they are
also to blame when the country is registering increased cases of unintended
teen age pregnancies and shockingly high prevalence rate of HIV and other
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). We need to acknowledge our failure to
protect innocent young lives as it is our responsibility to ensure that the
young people are going into the adult world which they are conversant with and
prepared for.
It is illogical
to leave things to chance and expect that young people will one way or the
other know about their sexual reproductive health. If one does not take that
initiative to discuss SRHR issues with a young person who is growing into
adolescence, the end result is that young person gets wrong information from
their peers. Let me share with you what a group of adults told me about the
most misleading SRH information they once got from friends and realise after
some years that it was all a lie. Here are some of the misconceptions that were
mentioned;
·
sleeping with boys or men helps
a girl to get vitamin K
·
A girl can avoid conception by having
a bath immediately after having unprotected sex
·
Infertility in men is caused by
failure to undergo sexual cleansing during adolescence
These and many
other factors are the reasons why allowing young people to access YFHS is the
best option which parents and guardians of adolescent young boys and girls
should choose. Young people’s access to YFHS will help everyone serve a lot in
terms of time, money and other resources as problems that are caused by young
people’s SRH challenges are costly. Furthermore, parents and guardians should
accept that they are not experts in SRH. Sometimes, if parents or guardian are
feeling shy or hesitant to discuss SRH issues with their adolescent boys or
girls then they should let the YFHS Providers do the needful. Leaving the specialists to do the work is
paramount in as far as prevention of SRH challenges which young people face is
concerned.
There is a need
for all to know and understand that access to YFHS among young people is very
key to social and economic development of young people. The welfare of young
people and their lives in future is shaped by how their sexual reproductive
health is taken care of today.
