Youth Day message. Papa kehte hain bada naam karega

[Guest guest]

Papa kehte hain bada naam karega(A Father's Conviction :His Son will Excel..)

International Youth Day was Wednesday, but at a time when India is at its

youngest ever, to be young in the country can be hell

SUNIL MEHRA

“India has 52 per cent of its population below 18 years of age, nearly one of

every third Indian is a young person aged between 10 and 24 years, their health

and development needs are most ignored!’’ This has become almost a cliche.

India is at its youngest ever. It has never been younger and it may never be so

young again, because the expected decline in fertility rate will ensure that the

young remain the majority for another two decades. Thereafter, there will be

gradual upward advancement of the average age of India. This is the time to

address the health and development needs of youth.

A glance at some of the problems affecting young people. HIV prevalence had shot

up from 4.48 million in 2002 to 5.1 million by the end of 2003 (NACO, July

2004). The latest available figures show that HIV infection rate is growing

fastest amongst people aged between 15 and 29 years, irrespective of their

profile as migrant labourers, street-children, prostitutes or young mothers. So

much so, that in its report of 2003, the UN called HIV/AIDS ‘‘the disease of

young people’’.

At this rate, within two decades, the productive Indian population will be the

worse hit and the wheels of national growth will decelerate. A pro-active

response should do away with sub-classifying high-risk groups and address young

people from all walks of life. Although various ministries and departments,

through an all-encompassing National Youth Policy 2003 and the National AIDS

Prevention and Control Programme, have expressed the intent, few specific

programmes have been dedicated to address the vulnerability of the youth to HIV.

More so in case of out-of-school youth, where vulnerability to all risks is

highest. The Budget 2004-2005 earmarks funds for prevention of HIV/AIDS. But in

the absence of specific programmes, the young people may once again remain

bereft of this initiative of the Finance Ministry.

Not many of us may know that in India, almost 65 per cent of all girls get

married before they are 18 years’ old and nearly one-third of all married women

bear their first child, likely to be of low birth weight, before turning 19.

Ill-health and poverty are thus passed on down the generations. A girl getting

married early is devoid of many of her fundamental rights—the primary amongst

them being her access to information, education and services. In addition, her

right to choose her spouse with her full understanding and her control over her

fertility is often absent. Amongst women who are illiterate, almost 70 per cent

have their first child before they attain ‘‘legal age of adulthood’’, which

falls to around 10 per cent in the case of women who are educated up to Class

XII.

The Budget has increased the allocation for Elementary Education and Literacy by

almost 10 per cent over last year to Rs 6,004 crore; it still remains a

minuscule 1.7 per cent of the total Budget outlay from Revenue Expenditures.

Moreover, as education is a concurrent list item, the commitment of respective

state governments is also crucial. The education cess alone is unlikely to

help—it’s the accountability and its linked fallouts that are likely to impact.

Often one is left to wonder why young people who constitute almost 33 per cent

of the population have negligible access to our health sector! They are the ones

who will finally determine the quality of an asset that an individual will be to

the nation. As a practising paediatrician, some of my most anxious and

intriguing clients come from this age group and I am often left asking where

should they go, seeking the health services they need without fear of being

rejected and judged?

Is our health delivery system prepared to address their needs, and more so of

young boys, which are distinct from the needs of other age groups? Most of our

reproductive health services (which have no sexual health component) address the

needs of married women. The need is to build capacity of service providers in

our health delivery systems, which are already well-entrenched across the

country. It is for the bureaucracy at the helm to get to understand the links of

adolescent/youth health for larger maternal and child health.

Similarly the education system is not geared to the needs of adolescents or

youth. It fails to provide paths to economic opportunity or how to retain

children from 14 years onwards in school. Sexual education is unheard of in most

schools. It is still unfortunately equated with promiscuity, and prevention

techniques are not taught.

Let me share a recent report (2002) from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, US, on

teenage sexual and reproductive health, based on a survey conducted amongst some

of the most ‘‘advanced’’ countries in the world—Sweden, France, Canada, Great

Britain and the US. It concludes that information on sexuality does not lead to

promiscuity; rather it has a positive effect on the health of young people and

helps them take control of their lives. This report highlights the importance of

social acceptance of their sexuality, clubbed with balanced information and a

clear commitment to preventing pregnancy and STDs in teenage relationships. This

is a rights-centric approach.

The study showed that easy access to contraceptive and other reproductive health

services, including information, resulted in lower teenage pregnancy. Central

and state governments have sufficient manpower, financial resources and

established service delivery systems to implement these objectives. It is the

sole responsibility of the state (not undermining the partnerships that are

required for effective implementation) to convince itself on the need to address

young people. Past experiences have shown the dangers of letting the private

sector alone take control of health and educational needs.

There is growing evidence that investing in the young can help us achieve our

population policy and millennium development goals much faster. Young people

must be transformed into a positive force which can influence the quality of

life in the country.

(The writer is Executive Director of MAMTA, an NGO that works on issues of

health and development across the country)

______________________

Posted by Arindam Roy, Youth Ambassador for Family Life Education of MAMTA & is

also working as a Global Youth Partner,from India under the aegis of UNFPA on

HIV/AIDS.

Arindam Roy, Calcutta.

E-mail: <net_arindam@...>