The Reproductive Health of Young People in Egypt

Over one-third of the population in Egypt is between 10 and 29 years of age. According to this report, their needs for a safe and smooth transition to adulthood are particular to the requirements and challenges of their time. From the Population Council series Survey of Young People in Egypt: Fact Sheets, the report examines an Egyptian study that included a module on health and safety that covered young people's sense of their physical and mental well-being, health-related practices and habits, and access to health care services and health-related education and information.

Data for this brief are drawn from the Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE), which provides data collected from a nationally representative sample of young people aged 10-29 on the 5 key life transitions of education, work, family formation, health, and civic and political participation. A total of 15,029 young people (6,949 males and 8,080 females) from 11,372 families in both rural and urban settings, including informal housing areas, participated in this study. Questions on sexual and reproductive health included such topics as menarche, relationships, female circumcision, HIV/AIDS, marriage and childbearing, contraception, and sources of knowledge and parental guidance on these issues.

Selected communication-related findings include:

• SYPE revealed that parents either do not talk with their children about puberty and conception, are late in providing the needed information, or offer insufficient information to their children about reproductive issues. While the average age of menarche in Egypt is 12.8 years, only 24% of girls aged 10-14 surveyed in SYPE had talked with a parent about puberty. While nearly half of female respondents aged 10-29 (43%) stated that they had talked with a parent about pubertal changes, only 7% of males aged 10-29 had. Young people's expressed need for reproductive health information has been reiterated by numerous studies, which are cited in this report.
• As a result of what is described here as parents' failure to satisfy their children's need to talk about puberty, friends and acquaintances make up the source of information on puberty for more than half (57%) of young males aged 10-29, followed by film/cinema (18%). More respondents cited films and cinema as source of information than the school, which was identified by only 12% of males and 4% of females. Less than 1% of respondents cited a reproductive health service provider as their source of information on pubertal changes, and only a limited number of males (less than 5%) and a negligible number of females cited a religious authority as their source of information. According to the report, the "absent role of medical personnel in providing information to young people on reproductive health reflects the medical culture in Egypt, which denies young people reproductive health services." On a related note, only one-quarter of respondents identified health care providers as their source of information on contraception. "In the absence of a comprehensive system providing young people with information on the physiological and psychological changes that occur during puberty and other reproductive health information, approximately 44% of respondents aged 15-29 found the information they received insufficient."
• Although the prevalence of female circumcision has declined among younger women, support for the practice remains widespread. One finding: Although higher educational attainment was associated with less support for female circumcision among female respondents, education had little association with male respondents' perception of female circumcision.
• Even though the majority of respondents over 15 years of age have heard of HIV/AIDS, only 3% could identify all possible routes of transmission. "The lack of awareness among young people of sexually transmitted infections and their modes of transmission is particularly worrying given the extended period of singlehood among young people in Egypt." Most respondents relied on the media (89%) as a source of information on HIV/AIDS, whereas 26% gave the school as their source of information and 13% friends. Only 21% of SYPE respondents aged 15-29 were willing to interact with someone living with HIV/AIDS.

"The SYPE results call for action to integrate adolescent and youth reproductive health in the national strategy on youth and youth health. They underscore the need for:

• The assessment of state and civil society initiatives that transmit reproductive health information to young people and offer counseling and other reproductive health services, such as school curricula and pre-marital counseling services offered by the Ministry of Health.
• A national, comprehensive, age-appropriate reproductive health module to be integrated in the educational program of primary, preparatory, and secondary school students. At present, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia have integrated reproductive health education in their national curricula...
• Legislation that assists civil society organizations in disseminating reproductive health information to school youth.
• A national campaign on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections that targets young people of reproductive age, including unmarried youth. It should be gender-sensitive and address young people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
• The integration of female circumcision into a broader approach to youth reproductive health and bodily rights....On the supply side, there is a need to discourage the involvement of medical personnel in perpetuating the practice, through education, training, and enforcement of punitive legislation. On the demand side, campaigns need to target parents to convey the message that female circumcision is a violation of girls' bodily rights and integrity regardless of who performs the procedure.
• Specialized reproductive health services for married adolescent girls that ensure their access to family planning and counseling services.
• ...SYPE findings call for immediate action on the part of the designated authorities to facilitate research on youth sexual behavior..."