Addressing Adolescent and Youth Sexuality

"For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled."

Rafael Mazin's bilingual English/Arabic presentation on youth sexuality for the Programming for Adolescents and Youth in the Arab States/ Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region conference in Istanbul, Turkey, December 3-7 2012, begins with the objectives:

• "Share contemporary views on sexual health as an indivisible element of individual and social health and wellness.
• Review the relevance of promotion and care of sexual health in the adolescent health agenda.
• Discuss sexual health from public health, political and programmatic perspectives."

The presentation offers definitions and concepts related to sexuality, sexual health, and rights and some statistics about youth sexuality and health that mark the reasons for attention to the topic, for example: 1) in Africa, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death of girls aged 15-19; 2) suicide - the leading cause of death for adolescents worldwide - may be associated with sexual and reproductive conflicts; and 3) older adolescent boys in Latin America are most likely to die from homicide (gender affirmation, aggressiveness, risk taking, homophobic violence). HIV facts derived from statistical data offer a picture of the epidemic among youth and specific populations of youth: men who have sex with men (YMSM) and transgender (TG) youth.

Mazin explores sexuality and politics, particularly the recognition of sexuality as a political force in the new political agenda. He reviews landmarks in sexual and reproductive health documents and agreements, particularly those that recognise sexual rights and women's human rights focused on sexuality and lists 9 rights drawn from landmark summits.

The presentation focuses on Sexual Health for the Millennium and the technical document associated with it, aimed to:

1. "Recognize promote, guarantee and protect sexual rights for all.
2. Advance towards gender equity & equality.
3. Condemn, fight and reduce all forms of violence related to sexuality.
4. Provide universal access to complete and adequate information as well as to comprehensive sexuality education [discussed in more detail in the presentation].
5. Ensure RH [reproductive health] programs acknowledge the centrality of SH [sexual health].
6. Halt and revert the spreading of HIV and other STI [sexually transmitted infections].
7. Identify, address and treat sexual concerns, dysfunctions and disorders.
8. Ensure the recognition of sexual pleasure as a component of comprehensive health and total well-being."

Strategies to advance the sexual health agenda are included, as are lessons learned including:

• "The interdisciplinary nature of ‘Sexual science’ must be truly recognized and links to social sciences such as sociology, history and anthropology should be strengthened.
• National policies expand beyond their borders. Very often resources are deployed to impose ideologies (e.g. natural family, sanctity of marriage and abstinence-only education).
• There is a clear need for systematic advocacy. Experts on adolescent health usually require training to plan implement and, follow-up interactions with the political level.
• Even in the most conservative of settings there are arguments which can be used to advance a progressive agenda. Progress in not linear, but neither is regression."

Conclusions include:

• "There is a clear need for systematic advocacy. Experts on adolescent health usually require training to plan implement and, follow- up interactions with the political level.
• Even in the most conservative of settings there are arguments which can be used to advance a progressive agenda. Progress in not linear, but neither is regression."

Editor's note: The gallery presented here is a partial representation of the complete PowerPoint presentation; to view the entire presentation, please contact the presenter; contact information is available below.