Youth health must be given priority and health outlets must be developed youth friendly to address their health related issues. This was resolved in a closing ceremony of three days workshop for young people on Adolescent Health, Life Skills and Peer Education to combat with child marriages. The workshop was organized by Sindh Community Foundation with the support of Positive Action for Girls & Women -ViiV Healthcare held at Hyderabad attended by the 33 male and female young people of different areas of Tando Muhammad Khan.
The workshop was facilitated by Javed Hussain of Sindh Community Foundation and Dr Zahid Saddar health specialist and co facilitated by Niaz Muhammad, Aisha Agha and Kanwal Thebo representatives of the SCF. The workshop covered life skills, youth health issues and peer pressure skills of healthy life and constructive role of young people to curb child marriages in their respective areas.
In different sessions of workshop the facilitators shared that estimated 1.2 million adolescents died in 2015, over 3000 every day, mostly from preventable or treatable causes. Half of all mental health disorders in adulthood start by age 14, but most cases are undetected and untreated. Violence, poverty, humiliation and feeling devalued can increase the risk of developing mental health problems.
Speakers were the views that this means providing access to life skills-based education and services to prevent, diagnose and treat STIs and unintended pregnancies. Youth-friendly health services, including setting up adolescent counselling centres; sensitizing communities and building the capacity of health facilities, civil society organizations and young peer educators are the key interventions to improve health of young people. Speakers also talked about the risky behaviour and health impact of child marriages.
They further said that Major gaps remain at both service delivery and policy level, preventing adequate access to basic health facilities regarding youth health rights.
They shared that denying these rights have grave consequences that exacerbate poverty and inequality. It can lead to greater vulnerabilities to gender-related ill health, unintended pregnancies, maternal death, harmful cultural practices and sexual and gender-based violence.
The participants including Ajay from the Village Jamo Kolhi and Iqra of village Bulri Shah Kareem expressed his views at the closing ceremony of the workshop that this workshop has enlighten our minds and we have become aware on the worst impact of child marriages on the lives of the adolescent as well we realize the youth are the pillar of the society so they would spread the acquired information and knowledge among other peer young people in their respective area.