Journal
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Volume 19, Issue SUPPL 1, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s12978-022-01445-3
Keywords
Adolescent; Youth; Sexual and reproductive health needs; Adolescents and youth-related interventions; Ethiopia
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Ethiopia has the second-largest youth population in Africa, and in the past two decades, adolescent and youth health programs, especially those focused on sexual and reproductive health, have gained attention. However, Ethiopian adolescents and youths continue to face various health issues, such as early pregnancy, infectious diseases, malnutrition, and unmet family planning needs. The current interventions in Ethiopia are fragmented, uncoordinated, underfunded, and lack effective policy implementation and meaningful youth participation. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive and well-funded national response to address the multifaceted needs of young people in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has the second-largest youth population in Africa with about 37.4 million people aged 10-24 years. To meet the needs of this population group, adolescent, and youth health (AYH) programs, including those focused on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and youth development, have gained traction in Ethiopia in the last two decades, especially following the 2005 election in Ethiopia. However, adolescents and youths in Ethiopia continue to face a high burden of morbidity and mortality from multiple factors including, teenage pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy, compromised nutrition, HIV and STIs, unsafe abortion, early and child marriage, and unmet needs for family planning. To date, adolescents and youth-related interventions in Ethiopia are fragmented under various ministries, uncoordinated, underfunded, project-oriented, lack effective policy implementation, and lack meaningful participation of young people. Addressing adolescents and youth health and development issues require evidence-based, well-tailored, at scale, intensified, coordinated, and holistic national responses. Therefore, there is a need to advocate for a realization of robust government commitment to ensure a multi-sectoral, coordinated, at scale, and well-funded national response to address the multifaceted needs of young people in Ethiopia including their sexual and reproductive health. An example to emulate is the HIV/AIDS response in Ethiopia, which was led by a national council chaired by the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and spearheaded by a secretariat leveraging resources and implementing a multisectoral national plan down to the kebele level.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available