World Population Day: A Good Time To Reflect On Our Population Issues

July 11 is observed annually as World Population Day; a world event initiated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as a global call to reflect on population and development issues. 2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the ground breaking International Conference on Population and Development

(ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994, which five years on in 1999, led to a set of development benchmarks for education and literacy, reproductive health care and unmet need for contraception, maternal mortality reduction and HIV/AIDS; all areas now included in the Millennium Development Goals.

In the Pacific, as elsewhere in the world, we know that rapid population growth is associated with impaired and sluggish economic development.

Parents struggle to make ends meet as family needs increase. Children from large families may miss out on educational opportunities. In turn, they can be disadvantaged when it comes to employment. Access to information that will enable young people to make responsible decisions and take charge of their own future is crucial to avoiding this poverty trap.

The Pacific Adolescent Reproductive Health Project

Funding and assistance from the UNFPA has enabled the Secretariat of the Pacific Community over the past four years to implement the Pacific regional Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) project.

This project in nine Pacific Islands countries has broken into areas never explored before; reaching young people with reproductive health information and services to prepare them for adulthood, including information and action to fight HIV/AIDS.

In each of these countries, the concept of youth participation and youth mobilisation has enabled young people themselves to deliver reproductive health messages to their peers through dramatically successful peer education programmes.

Youth leaders have been trained in how to talk to their peers about issues such as adolescent development and sexuality, prevention of unplanned teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, gender issues, peer pressure, suicide and alcohol and drug abuse.

Cultural taboos regarding public dialogue on sexuality and related issues still exist and they have to be addressed. The regional ARH project has been successful in breaking some of these barriers; community groups, parents, religious groups, non-government organisations, government departments, political leaders and health professionals have joined forces to support and promote adolescent reproductive health programmes, as they recognise these challenges looming over our younger populations.

Programmes in countries have comprised a rich mix of activities including the extensive use of media (television, radio and newspaper), youth outreach through peer to peer approach, community-based seminars and meetings for out-of-school youth; a range of school-based activities such as school visits, drama and song, ARH competitions; establishment of ARH centres as focal points where adolescents can obtain free information and resource materials, counselling and ARH services.

I particularly want to acknowledge the support of in-country and regional partners as well as project coordinators, local project teams and peer educators who have been key elements in the success of the project.

All these activities have helped demystify some of the myths surrounding sexuality issues as well as humanise and personalise the emotional and psychological dimensions of puberty and adolescence.

We need to understand and empathise the many challenges adolescents face and have to battle with as they journey towards adulthood.

Young people are most at risk for developing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. The largest proportion of those affected are young people below the age of 30 years. The prevention of sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancies for both in-school and out-of-school youth, and other related reproductive and sexual health issues are subjects that can no longer be avoided.

We need to provide information and education to facilitate responsible decision-making through services such as community outreach programmes, youth centres and youth clinics.

With the aid of this programme, many young people are in better positions to combat the increasing threat of HIV/AIDS in the region and the devastating impact of STIs and unplanned teenage pregnancies.

The Pacific Parliamentary Assembly on Population and Development (PPAPD), a body made up of Pacific parliamentarians, plays an advocacy role in promoting sustainable population and development including reproductive health.

A meeting of PPAPD executive members is planned for August to deliberate on what actions members can initiate in their countries to support and extend the impetus of the ARH project.

As funding for this project comes to an end at the end of the year, potential development partners to jointly fund further support for adolescent reproductive health in the region are also being anxiously sought.

€ Dr Rufina Latu is an adviser with the SPC Reproductive Health Programme.