On International Youth Day, FP2020 is joining the International Association of Adolescent Health (IAAH) to call on countries, communities and clinicians to protect and support the health and wellbeing of adolescents throughout the pandemic response. First and foremost is to ensure adolescents are able to obtain quality health information and services. This must include sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services so that adolescents can prevent, delay, or space a pregnancy, and avoid sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Continued inattention to identifying and addressing their health and social needs will have far-reaching consequences for adolescents as well as their families and communities.
This statement was developed by FP2020 and IAAH, with input from global professional associations of health care providers (listed below). In addition, the World Health Organization Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (WHO/SRH) and UNFPA contributed to the technical content and review of this statement. It is intended to be a resource that health-care workers can use to raise awareness of the needs of adolescents, and to spur actions that minimize risks and vulnerabilities. Health-care providers are respected leaders in their communities and are well positioned to facilitate such efforts, along with parents, teachers, religious leaders and young people themselves.
