Adolescents in rural areas of Bangladesh are still resorting to unsafe means to terminate unwanted pregnancies as they do not have sufficient access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) information, according to a recent report.
A shortage of health workers to disseminate SRHR information is the root cause of the lack of awareness among adolescents. Adolescent boys are particularly unaware as they find it difficult to speak to SRHR workers, who are predominantly women, it added.
Dr Julia Ahmed, an independent consultant with focus on SRHR, gender mainstreaming, and health system strengthening, presented the SRHR report at the 7th Knowledge Fair 2022 in Dhaka yesterday. The Knowledge Fair and discussion were jointly organized by Share-net Bangladesh and RedOrange.
“Many women resort to underground and unsafe abortion because of a lack of information and access to information. MRM drugs cause increased numbers of abortion complications among both married and unmarried youths,” the researcher said.
“In Bangladesh, there is a severe shortage of frontline health workers. Family planning information almost doesn’t reach men at all. Due to the preference given to women in field worker selection, there remains a lack of input for men. They are not getting proper knowledge about sexual and reproductive health,” she added, stressing the need to provide workers with proper training.
This study was conducted in Patuakhali, Bandarban, Sirajganj, and Jamalpur districts. It found that use of modern contraceptives among adolescents stood at 43.7% compared to the national average of 51.9%.
Arnob Chakrabarty, project director of Share-net Bangladesh and managing director of RedOrange Media and Communications, said gender-based health awareness education among rural youths was very low compared to urban youths, as there is less access to information in rural areas.
More than half of the girls experienced their first period without any information about menstrual hygiene. As a result, many of them suffered from diseases such as urinary tract infections and brown discharge.
“In other countries, a large part of the government's investment in the health sector is spent on health information providing services. In Bangladesh, there is an urgent need to take similar measures,” he added.
Shahan Ara Banu, director general of the Directorate General of Family Planning, said: “Why is there a right to know sexual and reproductive health information, and why is it necessary? A multi-sectional discussion on these issues today can later be used in our policy making.”
Educating adolescents about reproductive health will quickly increase awareness, and initiatives are already underway in schools at the district level, she added.
Kimberley Meijers, Share-net Bangladesh country coordinator, said: “These initiatives aim to serve as long lasting resources. The easier it is to access relevant information, the lower the reproductive health risks.”
She stressed more public-private cooperation in the SRHR sector.
Every year, 600,000 girls under the age of 18 are married, and most of them have their first child within two years. There are 1.6 million abortions every year, a threefold increase over the last few years. All this is due to a lack of knowledge. This lesson is not only for teenagers. Parents, teachers, and everyone else also need to know. Then child marriage will decrease,” said Dr Ubaidur Rob, senior health advisor, trainer and project lead at KIT Royal Tropical Institute.
Faruq Faisal, regional director of Article 19, said: “Access to information is a right. Even though there are many government projects of providing awareness of services, many people are lagging behind because not everyone gets information through the same channels.”
Dr Halida Akhter, senior associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, stressed the need for a systematic dissemination of information regarding SRHR.
MSF and Blast Eight, which also participated in the Knowledge Fair, provided various types of information related to reproductive health to people of different ages.
The fair ended with an award ceremony where three winners were honoured with the SRHR Awards 2022.