Promote sexual health, Asian gov’ts urged

Asia’s adolescents are turning increasingly to risky sexual behavior, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday, urging governments to do more to promote the sexual health of younger people.

WHO regional chief Shigeru Omi said that while "social norms regarding sexual activity and sexual behaviour have changed... (the) environment to support the adolescents to face these changes has not."

The organization’s studies showed adolescents were uninformed about how best to avoid risky behavior that leads to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, pregnancy-related complications and sexually transmitted diseases, it said.

Acceptable, affordable and appropriate sexual health information and services were also lacking, while poverty and unemployment put adolescents in a vulnerable position, it added.

The statement said Omi "called on governments to allocate more funds and improve services for adolescents", adding that the WHO would review the adolescent health programmes of member nations at a meeting here next week.

The UN agency cited studies in the Philippines that showed 23 percent of people between 15 and 24 years of age had engaged in premarital sex, 70 percent of them without the use of contraceptives.

In Mongolia, up to 58 percent of sexually transmitted infections occur among youths, it added. — AFP