Adolescents / Young People

Adolescents ... at all levels of FRHAM, ensuring active participation and involvement of adolescents/young people in meeting their sexual and reproductive health, rights and responsibilities in family life within a youth-friendly atmosphere.

Current Situation

Sexual and reproductive health information, education and services, including family planning, have traditionally addressed the needs of adult married women, although adolescents/young people represent a large segment of the population who are sexually active. With earlier onset of sexual maturity and later marriages, the longer period of puberty makes young people more vulnerable to premarital sexual activity and with it, the exposure to sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS and pregnancy:

In Malaysia, slightly less than 40% of those infected with HIV/AIDS are those aged below 29 years of age, whilst the trend shows this is likely to increase in future (source: Ministry of Health 2007).
In the Klang Valley, one baby is abandoned every 10 days, mostly by unwed teenagers (source: New Straits Times, 5 July 2007).

High rates of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy are powerful evidence of the lack of sexual and reproductive health information and education for young people in Malaysia.

Young people from an early age require accurate and comprehensive information on reproductive health. They also need to know about sexual relations, how pregnancy happens and how to prevent it. The school curriculum has yet to integrate sexual and reproductive health as a specific and compulsory topic. Continuing neglect to provide young people comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education is having serious negative effects on their health and lives. Unfortunately, young people often face the barriers of fear and stigma when accessing sexual and reproductive health information and services.

Our Goal

All adolescents/young people are aware of their sexual and reproductive rights, are empowered to make informed choices and decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health, and are able to act on them.

Our Objectives

Advocate for and provide education, which promotes a positive approach to young people's sexuality and promotes a non-prescriptive, evidence-based, rights-based approach.
Identify and implement programmes to reach young people with diverse needs and sexual orientations.
Form partnerships and have dialogue with parents, teachers and local authorities.
Involve young people in the development and implementation of information and educational programmes.
Provide comprehensive youth-friendly, high quality services that meet the specific needs of young women and young men.

Our Services

Campaign for changes in policies and procedures to improve young people's access to sexual and reproductive health information, education and services. Evidence from many studies showed that providing young people with education on sexual reproductive health empowering them to make responsible decisions on their sexual and reproductive health could lead to the reduction of risky behaviours and sexual abuse.
Promote information and education on rights and responsibilities regarding sexual and reproductive health amongst young people through various programmes.
Develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials for adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Conduct training workshops to improve knowledge and skills of educators, especially peer educators, to ensure high quality youth-friendly programmes.
Provide education and skills building activities through youth camps and workshops, using the Reproductive Health of Adolescent Module (RHAM) and Reproductive Health of Adolescents Booklet (RHAB) as training tools.
Ensure greater involvement of young people in project design, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and sustenance of youth related activities.
Promote and maintain youth-friendly clinics/centres/clubs set up by State MAs.
Improve knowledge and skills of engaged/married couples in dealing with pregnancy and parenthood matters.

Our Programmes

Project MYSOR 209: Reaching Out to Disadvantaged Youth to Address Their SRH Needs and HIV Prevention through Peer Education Programme - a project funded by UNFPA. This project aims to use youth-friendly and gender-sensitive peer education programme to help young people develop the skills and confidence to protect them against unwanted pregnancy, HIV and sexually transmitted infections. The target groups for this project are residents (boys and girls) of juvenile homes under the age of 18 years.
Strengthening of Youth-Friendly Services and Information is a 2-year project funded by the Netherlands Government under SALIN Plus Funds, allocated by IPPF to be implemented by FRHAM and its State Member Associations (MAs). By the end of the project, 11 Youth-Friendly Centers will be set up by all State MAs to provide quality youth-friendly services and information to young people aged 15-24 years. This project is expected to reach a total of 13,000 young people. providing them with services and information on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The 5A's ...