More Than Just Girls….Investing in Global Change:10 REASONS WHY WE MUST PRIORITIZE SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Despite the advancement of women’s rights in Guatemala, there remains a harsh obstacle facing the success and empowerment of young girls in Guatemala: teen pregnancy and the poverty that it perpetuates.
In Guatemala, teen pregnancy is at epidemic levels:
Guatemala has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Latin America.
50% of Guatemalan girls will have a child before the age of 20, and 20% or more of Guatemalan girls will have 2 children before the age of 18.
In Guatemala in 2014, roughly 71,000 girls under the age of 19 became pregnant, from that percentage 5,119 were girls under the age 14.
Less than 40% of sexually active women aged 15–19 use a contraceptive method.
Photo: Marysol Reyes
The above stats make it very clear why we must include Sexual and Reproductive Health in our programs to better empower girls of Guatemala, but what about the ‘bigger picture’? Girls aside, why is it so important to invest in Sexual and Reproductive Health Education?
At SERniña, we believe access to sexual and reproductive health education and resources is key to creating global change and empowering whole communities. In this blog, we list the Top 10 Reasons Why We Must Prioritize Sexual and Reproductive Health.
1. To lower poverty rates
Poverty is associated with large family sizes, with the poorest countries facing the highest population growth rates. With more children, families living in poverty often cannot provide for their children’s basic needs. Children then go hungry and do not attend school.
If a family has fewer children, and more years between each child, the more they will invest in each child’s food, health and education. When couples choose to practice ‘family planning’ by applying safe sexual and reproductive health practices, they ensure that each of their children has a better chance at success. This allows their children to create better lives for themselves, get a better education, and seek better employment. Thus they are able to advance the financial situations for their family, and generation by generation, finally break the cycle of poverty.
Studies in Latin American countries suggest that meeting the unmet need for family planning would raise the incomes of the poor by 10-20 percent or more in cases of extreme poverty. Research also suggests that a fall of 0. 5% in the birth rate in 45 countries during the 1980s would have led to a one-third drop in the incidence of poverty.
Photo: Marysol Reyes
2. To save lives
Every day, about 1,000 women die of complications from pregnancy or childbirth globally. Nearly all of these deaths are preventable. And for every woman who dies, 20 to 30 others suffer lasting health problems, many of which can be debilitating. In fact, in 2004, unsafe sex was the second largest cause of lost years of healthy life, or burden of disease globally, particularly in less developed countries.
The direct benefits of meeting the need for contraception and for maternal and newborn healthcare include:
Two-thirds fewer unintended pregnancies
70 percent reduction in maternal deaths
44 percent decrease in the death of newborn babies
Unsafe abortions would decline by 73 per cent (from 20 million to 5.5 million (assuming no change in abortion laws)
The number of women with abortion complications requiring medical attention would fall from 8.5 million to 2.3 million
Access to prevention and care could dramatically reduce mortality and ill-health among women and children by preventing transmission of STIs, including HIV, and averting maternal and infant deaths and disabilities. Also, a mother’s death can lead to the death of her baby. Thus, reducing maternal mortality saves the lives of children too. Child mortality could decrease by 13 percent if all women could delay their next pregnancy by at least 24 months. It would further decrease if the interval between births approached 36 months.
3. To improve access to education
When families choose to have fewer children, by applying safe sexual practices, families and governments can spend more per child. This is especially important for girls, whose education is often sacrificed when resources are limited.
By choosing to have fewer, or more spaced-out children, families can ensure each child receives an adequate education, as well as the emotional, mental and physical support they need to be successful. Also, with more controlled and limited populations, governments of developing countries can also ensure they are offering a higher quality public education, and promoting attendance by all children.
Guatemala teen pregnancy is a leading cause of high drop-out rates among girls: It is over three times more likely that a girl will become pregnant (50%) before she turns 19, than it is that she will graduate 9th grade (15%).
By providing sexual and reproductive health education, and teaching safe sex practices, girls can avoid pregnancy and choose to stay in school longer.
4. To empower women in their homes and in the workforce
High fertility rates can be detrimental to a woman’s participation in the labor market, and hence her ability to generate income and improve her bargaining power within the household.
In Guatemala, the average number of children desired by women is 2, however the average number of child per woman is 3.1 and 3.7 in indigenous communities. This is often due to lack of access or knowledge of family planning information and contraceptive options.
Access to sexual and reproductive health information and services offers women the means to control their own bodies and to decide whether and when to have children. Women’s ability to control their fertility can create opportunities for increasing their skills and participating in the workforce or other activities outside the home.
When women are able to seek out employment and their own income, they are better able to advocate for themselves, and their children, in their homes and ensure that their well-being is respected.
5. To promote gender equality
For gender equality to be achieved, women must be able to make free and informed choices about their bodies, including sexual and reproductive health. Having the right to make decisions and to access information and services free of discrimination regarding their bodies, their relationships, and the bearing of children is fundamental to women’s equality and well-being.
Access to sexual and reproductive health services can create opportunities to challenge gender norms that underlie harsh violations of women’s human rights, including violence, discrimination, coercive sex, ‘honor’ crimes, crimes of passion, early marriage and other harmful practices.
A SERniña Participant with 'Bodily Autonomy' Body Paint: My Body. My Rules.
6. To strengthen healthcare systems
Investing in sexual and reproductive health contributes to dramatic improvements in health worldwide and strengthens health systems more generally. In fact, the ability to meet reproductive health needs is a signal indicator of the overall coverage and accessibility of services in the health system.
Training healthcare providers in a rights-based approach, as done so with sexual and reproductive healthcare, can have a positive effect on the quality of care in general. Similarly, improved skills in counselling, which is central to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare, can have an impact in other areas. Likewise, investments in basic and emergency obstetric care can bolster the quality of care and help providers deliver other services more effectively.
Also, with more controlled populations, there is less burden on the quantity of care needed for communities, and more focus, and investment, can be put into the quality of care provided for each patient.
7. To ensure environmental stability.
Population growth due to high fertility results in increased demand for food and natural resources. The population of our planet is growing at unsustainable rates – the stress that the current population growth rate puts on our planet can have devastating effects on individuals, families, communities and the planet as a whole.
A mural in SERniña partner community: El Hato.
Though many women and couples say that they would like to prevent or delay pregnancy, oftentimes they end up with large families, leading to the division of land into smaller and smaller plots. As families struggle to survive, they may see no choice but to clear forests, cultivate steep hillsides and graze their livestock on marginal lands. The result can be erosion, flooding and depletion of the soil, which all contribute to increased poverty, food insecurity and environmental decline.
8. To protect our human rights.
Sexual and reproductive health is related to multiple human rights, including the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to accurate information and education, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education, and the prohibition of discrimination.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have both clearly indicated that women’s right to health includes their sexual and reproductive health. This means that States have obligations to respect, protect and fulfill rights related to women’s sexual and reproductive health.
The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: "Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”
9. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, The United Nations and its partner countries adopted a set of 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.
Though many goals are associated with the importance of Sexual and Reproductive Health, two goals (and associated targets) are directly linked to access to sexual and reproductive health education and resources:
Image: B., Dockolova, Lau, K., Barclay, H., & Marshall, A. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals and Family Planning 2020 (Rep.). The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) .
10. To lower rates of sexual activity and pregnancy among teenagers.
In comparing abstinence-only programs with comprehensive sex education, comprehensive sex education was associated with a 50% lower risk of teen pregnancy. Sex education programs that: are balanced and realistic, encourage students to postpone sex until they are older, and promote safer-sex practices among those who choose to be sexually active, have been proven effective at delaying first intercourse and increasing use of contraception among sexually active youth. These programs have not been shown to initiate early sexual activity or to increase levels of sexual activity or numbers of sexual partners among sexually active youth.
Students who received abstinence-only programs were shown not to demonstrate any change in their likelihood of delaying sexual activity, and they demonstrated a marked increase in the decision to participate in unsafe sex as only 23% of sexually active teens who received abstinence only programs reported using a condom.
Some people say that teaching kids about contraception encourages them to have sex, but that’s patently false. According to research led by the Guttmacher Institute, "teens who had received instruction on both abstinence and birth control were older at first sex than their peers who had received no formal instruction and were more likely to have used condoms or other contraceptives at first sex; they also had healthier partnerships."
In conclusion, it is clear that the need to provide adequate sexual and reproductive health education, as well as access to related resources, because it is not only essential to the empowerment of young girls, but also to the creation of a stronger, healthier and more sustainable world.
At SERniña we are working to create these changes in Guatemala by providing over 600 youth with comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education over the next two years, and we need your help. Donate today to make this happen:
A donation of $35 covers the cost of 1 student to receive a full year empowerment pack (including personalized journal and workbook, art supplies, and a program t-shirt).
Just $150 covers a FULL scholarship for 1 student to fully participate in our YEAR-LONG Empowerment Program including all costs associated with Facilitator Stipends, Personalized Materials and Educational Resources
Sources:
Duvvury, N., & Oxhorn, P. (2017.). Understanding the Links Between Sexual and Reproductive Health Status and Poverty Reduction (Rep.). Institute for the Study of International Development.
UNFPA (2010). Sexual and Reproductive Health for All: Reducing poverty, advancing development and protecting human rights (Rep.). United Nations Populations Fund.
B., Dockolova, Lau, K., Barclay, H., & Marshall, A. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals and Family Planning 2020 (Rep.). The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) .
Statistics. (2013, December 26). Retrieved May 22, 2017, from https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala_statistics.html
(http://lahora.gt/osar-reporta-71-mil-embarazos-en-ninas-y-jovenes-en-2014/)
(Kirby, 2007; Kohler et al., 2008; Lin & Santelli, 2008; Trenholm et al., 2007).
http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&featureID=1041
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/HealthRights.aspx