Promoting adolescent reproductive health awareness

In Indonesia in 1985, the family planning association founded [Sahabat Remaja] (Friends of Youth) to provide free counselling services through a hotline, mail and personal consultations. They found that many teenagers are uniformed about the facts of life, let alone contraception. They used seminars, radio programmes, newspaper and magazine articles, and exhibitions to give information about sexuality and reproductive health. The most difficult task was changing the views of the older generation.

In Morocco, where 15% of girls still marry under the age of 15, the family planning association (AMPF) supports 20 volunteers youth committees in youth clubs in six regions. These committees have organized a wide range of activities -- song- and play-writing competitions, for instance -- all focused on population themes, in an effort to familiarize young people with family planning issues. In an extension of these activities, AMPF has arranged for the winning entry of 1992's play-writing competition -- about the importance of educating girls -- to be professionally produced and broadcast on television.

2. By the age of nine or 10, younger people should be fully aware that gays and lesbians do exist and that some poepl fall in love with other poeple of the same sex. They should be tought about the virtues of understanding and tolerance in order to tackle the teasing and bullying that often occurs at school.