Campaign on sexual, reproductive health rights of adolescents tees off in 9 districts
November 28, 2012
Islamabad
Having fixed a realistic target that envisages the provision of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) education to 15 per cent of the school-going population of Pakistan over the next five years, the Lahore-based LifeLine project Tuesday launched a mass awareness and behaviour change initiative that has the potential to prevent the reproductive health rights of Pakistani youth from being compromised to a point of no return.
Titled ‘Hayat,’ the campaign was launched at a press conference by the chief executive officer of LifeLine Omer Aftab, who is better known for his groundbreaking efforts for promotion of awareness about breast cancer. Omer informed that the geographical spread of the campaign takes both rural as well as urban areas into account. Aside from Islamabad, the campaign has been launched in Lahore and Lodhran in Punjab; Karachi and Jamshoro in Sindh; Peshawar and Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Quetta and Pishin in Balochistan.
Without meaning to be sensational, Omer highlighted the significance of the campaign by quoting alarming data on SRHR from various studies. “Ours is a country where 100 children are reportedly being molested every month; where 890,000 abortions take place every year; where 40% of the girls are married off before the age of 18; and where only 29% girls and 41% boys have access to reliable information about puberty and hygiene,” he said.
Omer said, adolescents between 10 to 18 years of age will be the primary stakeholders of the campaign. Moreover, parents, caretakers, religious scholars, government officials, civil society organisations, as well as the corporate sector and the media are also being brought on board. “During the last six months, we have been actively engaging with religious opinion leaders of the Barelvi, Deobandi and Shia sects. They have unanimously expressed the belief that today’s age of information explosion has made it absolutely necessary for children to have access to accurate information so that they can distinguish right from wrong,” Omer said.
Lifeline has developed a series of public service messages in which key religious scholars from all three sects have conveyed messages drawn from Qur’anic injunctions to sensitise the public about the importance of proper guidance on SRHR so that adolescents do not go astray. Omer said, catering for the emotional, psychological, physiological, sexual and reproductive health of adolescents is easier said than done in a country like Pakistan, where despite media emancipation, the issue remains a taboo for a wide section of the society.
Omer shared that a baseline study is currently being conducted in the target districts to gauge the level of understanding of various stakeholders on SRHR issues. The study will provide a situation analysis with regard to SRHR issues of adolescents in the target districts. It will highlight key issues in each district; and will allow project teams to design interventions specific to the needs of a given district.
Other than the baseline study, Lifeline is also conducting a Learning Need Assessment in the target districts. This assessment will describe the current knowledge, attitude, practices and aspirations of adolescent girls and boys with reference to SRHR issues on the one hand, and the role of parents and the community in seeking information on SRHR, on the other.
Efforts are also underway, Omer said, to review existing literature and material on the subject and to evaluate its usefulness and gaps. “All interventions have got to be specific to the culture and needs of a given district. What is acceptable in Islamabad may not elicit a similar response in Jamshoro,” he stated in response to a question about the possibility of imported agendas being enforced through donor-driven funds. Omer also shared that people in rural areas have been found to be more amenable to new ideas. On the contrary, there are examples of university professors skipping chapters on SRHR because of their peculiar mindset.
Having fixed a realistic target that envisages the provision of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) education to 15 per cent of the school-going population of Pakistan over the next five years, the Lahore-based LifeLine project Tuesday launched a mass awareness and behaviour change initiative that has the potential to prevent the reproductive health rights of Pakistani youth from being compromised to a point of no return.
Titled ‘Hayat,’ the campaign was launched at a press conference by the chief executive officer of LifeLine Omer Aftab, who is better known for his groundbreaking efforts for promotion of awareness about breast cancer. Omer informed that the geographical spread of the campaign takes both rural as well as urban areas into account. Aside from Islamabad, the campaign has been launched in Lahore and Lodhran in Punjab; Karachi and Jamshoro in Sindh; Peshawar and Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Quetta and Pishin in Balochistan.
Without meaning to be sensational, Omer highlighted the significance of the campaign by quoting alarming data on SRHR from various studies. “Ours is a country where 100 children are reportedly being molested every month; where 890,000 abortions take place every year; where 40% of the girls are married off before the age of 18; and where only 29% girls and 41% boys have access to reliable information about puberty and hygiene,” he said.
Omer said, adolescents between 10 to 18 years of age will be the primary stakeholders of the campaign. Moreover, parents, caretakers, religious scholars, government officials, civil society organisations, as well as the corporate sector and the media are also being brought on board. “During the last six months, we have been actively engaging with religious opinion leaders of the Barelvi, Deobandi and Shia sects. They have unanimously expressed the belief that today’s age of information explosion has made it absolutely necessary for children to have access to accurate information so that they can distinguish right from wrong,” Omer said.
Lifeline has developed a series of public service messages in which key religious scholars from all three sects have conveyed messages drawn from Qur’anic injunctions to sensitise the public about the importance of proper guidance on SRHR so that adolescents do not go astray. Omer said, catering for the emotional, psychological, physiological, sexual and reproductive health of adolescents is easier said than done in a country like Pakistan, where despite media emancipation, the issue remains a taboo for a wide section of the society.
Omer shared that a baseline study is currently being conducted in the target districts to gauge the level of understanding of various stakeholders on SRHR issues. The study will provide a situation analysis with regard to SRHR issues of adolescents in the target districts. It will highlight key issues in each district; and will allow project teams to design interventions specific to the needs of a given district.
Other than the baseline study, Lifeline is also conducting a Learning Need Assessment in the target districts. This assessment will describe the current knowledge, attitude, practices and aspirations of adolescent girls and boys with reference to SRHR issues on the one hand, and the role of parents and the community in seeking information on SRHR, on the other.
Efforts are also underway, Omer said, to review existing literature and material on the subject and to evaluate its usefulness and gaps. “All interventions have got to be specific to the culture and needs of a given district. What is acceptable in Islamabad may not elicit a similar response in Jamshoro,” he stated in response to a question about the possibility of imported agendas being enforced through donor-driven funds. Omer also shared that people in rural areas have been found to be more amenable to new ideas. On the contrary, there are examples of university professors skipping chapters on SRHR because of their peculiar mindset.
