Review of global evidence on effective health services and comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents

Abstract

The world has more young people than ever before and a large number of them are adolescents between the ages of 10-19 in least developed countries. Today’s young women and men have growing aspirations and many strive for better education, good health care and jobs to support themselves and their families. Adolescents and youth face many health issues such as early pregnancy and childbirth, sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse, malnutrition and obesity, and unintentional injuries. Young peoples’ rights have advanced, but building on the achievements and safeguarding these rights - particularly reproductive health rights and the rights of adolescent girls and young women - remains a major challenge. The evidence on what works and does not work globally to foster the health and rights of young people is evolving. Thanks to an increased emphasis on high-quality monitoring and evaluation practices in recent years, we now know that a number of approaches in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), some of which were promoted and implemented by global leaders in this field, do not fully meet their objectives. Other interventions are emerging, especially in the field of youth-friendly health services and comprehensive sexuality education, and show promising results, calling for a more global commitment and resources. We will present the latest evidence on which approaches have had an impact on young people’s health and reflect on the necessary conditions for their implementation.