Ashar Iqbal Khan
Poor reproductive health is both a cause and consequence of Poverty. Investments in reproductive health—including that of young people—can help families to lead healthier, more productive lives and governments to realize savings in reduced demand for public services by slowing population growth, known as the demographic dividend. Governments can use the smaller ratio of dependents to productive individuals by investing in appropriate and relevant programs to build human capacity and encourage economic growth. Such investments are particularly important in light of the unprecedented numbers of young people entering their reproductive years. Investing in these young people’s human and social capital is crucial to ending the cycle of Poverty.
Poverty and inadequate healthcare systems compound the vulnerability of young women to sickness and early death. Every minute, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to 1,400 women dying each day—an estimated 529,000 a year—from pregnancy-related complications. Teen mothers are at higher risk of experiencing severe complications during pregnancy and childbirth because their bodies often have not yet fully matured.
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Poverty and reproductive health are intricately related. Poverty is associated with a high risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, which can affect their reproductive health.
Globally, HIV spreads most rapidly among young people between 15 and 24. Half of new infections worldwide, affecting 5,000 to 6,000 youth each day, occur in this age group.
Similar disparities between rich and poor adolescents exist for such indicators as early marriage, skilled attendance at birth, nutrition, contraceptive use, and knowledge of HIV transmission.
Now, let me highlight the KEY AREAS FOR POLICY ACTION.
Significant policy-related efforts that help to link Poverty and youth reproductive health include the UN Millennium Project, national population policies, national youth reproductive health and HIV/AIDS strategies, orphans and vulnerable children policies, and comprehensive national poverty reduction strategies. To encourage action related to the link between youth reproductive health investment and poverty reduction, countries should develop policies that do the following:
· Take Youth into Account as a Special Population when Diagnosing and Assessing Poverty.
· Promote Approaches to Providing Young Women with Technical Skills and Advocate for Greater Income-generating Opportunities in their Communities.
· Ensure that Youth have Access to Reproductive Health Services and Supplies.
· Stress the Multisectoral Impact of Youth Reproductive Health Interventions.
· Stress the Interrelatedness of HIV/AIDS and Poverty and Reproductive Health Needs when Adapting and Implementing Policy.
· Involve Men in Sexual and Reproductive Health as Clients, Partners, and Agents of Social Change.
In recent years, international development agencies, including the United Nations and World Bank, have increased their attention to the link between poverty reduction and youth reproductive health.
Several national poverty reduction strategies include specific youth reproductive actions for poverty reduction within their overall frameworks. Several academic institution studies have helped quantify the impact of reproductive health measures on poverty reduction. For example, Margaret Greene’s analysis Poor Health, Poor Women: How Reproductive Health Affects Poverty states “that reproductive health outcomes—particularly very early pregnancy—most strongly affect overall health, followed by education.”
However, despite the progress in addressing the link between reproductive health and poverty reduction, recent reviews have concluded that we must do much more to tie these strategies to specific monitoring objectives and budget outlays.
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