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Girls need access to sexual, reproductive health services: UN
Fight for their right: UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin has called on countries to ensure that girls have access to sexual and reproductive health services in his marks at a celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on Sunday
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Fight for their right: UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin has called on countries to ensure that girls have access to sexual and reproductive health services in his marks at a celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on Sunday. (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal) (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal)
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span class="inline inline-center">Fight for their right: UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin has called on countries to ensure that girls have access to sexual and reproductive health services in his marks at a celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on Sunday. (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal)
Countries should be able to work together to build a world where adolescent girls have access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said.
UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin said ensuring that girls were able to exercise their rights, could pursue their education and had the skills and opportunities to join the workforce was essential for their own well-being and formed a critical foundation for the health and prosperity of families, communities and nations.
Their rights, he added, included their freedom to choose when and whom to marry, when or whether to have children and being free of violence, abuse and exploitation.
'When girls are free to define their lives and enjoy their rights, they not only enjoy better health and healthier children. They are also better able to contribute to national development as economic actors and entrepreneurs, helping their countries reap a demographic dividend and driving economic growth,' Osotimehin said in his remarks at a celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on Oct. 11.
He praised the international community, which he said had responded enthusiastically to evidence that investing in girls yielded huge returns by featuring girls' rights in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development last month.
'The new agenda acknowledges that increased attention to the health and well-being of the world's adolescent girls, including their sexual and reproductive health, is a necessary condition for success, and calls powerfully for a stronger focus on adolescent girls across sectors,' said Osotimehin.
The UNFPA highlights that despite progress in recent years, girls have continued to suffer severe disadvantages, discrimination and exclusion, merely because they are young and female.
'For many girls, puberty marks an accelerating trajectory into inequality. It also represents a critical window for preventive and protective investments that we must make if we are serious about achieving full gender equality,' said Osotimehin. (ebf)
