By Afshan S. Khan (The News International)
Parents should shed their inhibition about ignoring their children’s reproductive health issues and have discussions with them that are culturally appropriate, socially accepted, gender sensitive and scientifically exact.
These views were expressed by Sachet (Pakistan) Executive Vice President Dr. Rakshinda Perveen while talking to ‘The News’ here on Friday.
She said that the adolescent’s sexuality is still a taboo in our society but at least it should be accepted first. There are so many adolescence diseases that are discussed in seminars and workshops conducted by NGOs but when it comes to our own household we keep mum about it.
The Sachet (Pakistan), a registered youth-oriented and community-driven NGO, has recently launched a report on ‘Alternative Perspectives’. It contains proceedings and recommendations of a policy dialogue organised by the Agehi Resource Centre under the theme ‘Understanding Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health Issues in Pakistani Context; Perspectives from Advocates, Activists, Academicians, Scholars and Practitioners’ held on February 12 at the Sachet Gallery.
The objective of the meeting was to bring together diverse but matching perspectives that may demystify the complex issues of reproductive health in relation to adolescents and youth in Pakistan. This endeavour may assist not only CSOs working at grassroots to assess their interventions and strategies but would also offer an opportunity to policy planners to receive direct views from implementers that in turn may be considered for future policy and planning.
Dr. Rakhshinda Perveen said “First there should be realisation of the issue only then we can address it. Communication is the biggest hurdle one can have in informing our youth. First there is denial of youth-specific issues, and if eventually there is realisation, then the implementation to address the problem comes along. Our issues should be revisited, then policies should be made.”
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