Conference urges sexual health service for Asia-Pacific youth

The health of young people in Asia-Pacific region is in jeopardy as many of them have inadequate preparation for sexual lives, warns a declaration from the Fifth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR).

"Few young people receive adequate preparation for their sexual lives. This leaves them potentially vulnerable to coercion, abuse and exploitation, unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV," read the Youth Declaration announced Sunday.

The APCRSHR is hosted every two years since 2001 as a platform for the Asia-Pacific countries to exchange experiences in promoting reproductive and sexual health.

Statistics from the conference show that there are more than five million HIV cases in Asia and the Pacific, and over half of them are under 24.

The declaration called on national governments and civil societies to offer consultation and services on sexual and reproductive health to young people, especially to marginalized groups such as migrant workers.

The declaration noted that poverty and malnutrition make young people in the region vulnerable to greater risks of HIV transmission.

The Fifth APCRSHR, co-sponsored by the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, will run from Oct. 18 to 20.

Source: Xinhua