Experts have said the government and the private sector should take initiatives to improve sexual education and reproductive health and rights of young people, as well as take possible measures to improve the situation.
They also called upon the ministries concerned and stakeholders to come forward in this regard.
The speakers made these calls at the closing ceremony of the two-day national-level exchange meeting on sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people at CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka on Sunday.
Nagorik Uddyog and the Right Here Right Now coalition organized the two-day event.
The exchange meeting was inaugurated by the chief guest, Mohammad Sirajur Rahman Bhuiyan, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, on Saturday.
Officials of the ministry, teachers, youth, religious leaders, civil society representatives, media personalities, journalists and human rights activists participated in the program.
A panel discussion was held on the current status, successes, challenges and future of sexual and reproductive health and the rights of the youth in Bangladesh.
Shamima Akhter Chowdhury, project manager of the Association for Prevention of Septic Abortion, Bangladesh (BAPSA), Dr Elvina Mustari, deputy director (programs) of Reproductive Health Services Training and Education Program (RHSTEP), Samia Afrin, project director at Naripokkho, Md Masudur Rahman, national coordinator of RHRN Bangladesh Coalition, and Umme Sharmin Kabir, founder of Wreetu, spoke on the occasion.
Zakir Hossain, the chief executive officer of the Nagorik Uddyog, delivered the closing remarks.
He said the number of adolescents here is more than 36 million, which is 21%of the total population of Bangladesh.
“But there are a variety of social barriers to access to healthcare and information essential to their proper growth. As there is a lack of awareness about mental health and mental illness, there is a widespread negative perception and superstition about mental health in society. We need to overcome this.”
The meeting was conducted by members of the NoboDyuth Change Maker team of the Nagorik Uddyog.
Apart from this, keeping in mind the issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights of the youth, the NoboDyuth theatre team performed a drama named “Abhiman,” an awareness street play on the physical and mental changes of youth during puberty.
A cultural program was also performed by a group of child artists.
