A reproductive health needs assessment in Myanmar

A Reproductive Health Needs Assessment in Myanmar
In areas of high HIV prevalence, a pilot project to evaluate the feasibility of voluntary
antenatal HIV screening and affordable interventions to reduce perinatal
transmission of HIV should be designed and evaluated.
Adolescent Reproductive Health
The assessment team found that very few activities were being undertaken in the community
to address adolescent reproductive health. There was, however, a strongly felt need to
improve the reproductive health knowledge of adolescents, and to improve the quality and
accessibility of services for young people.
Providing information regarding adolescent reproductive health
No formal mechanisms were in place to ensure that young people, as well as their parents and
teachers, received appropriate information on reproductive health issues. A variety of
different media could be utilized to channel information to adolescents.
Community members and youth indicated that “health talks” given by health personnel would
be one important mechanism for ensuring that appropriate information concerning
reproductive health reached young people.
Feasible mechanisms should be sought for involving health personnel in the conduct
of health talks on reproductive health issues. They should be encouraged to ensure
that such talks reach community leaders, parents, and other adults, as well as youth
themselves.
Many youth reported reading a number of magazines, and acquiring some of their limited
reproductive health knowledge from these sources.
The effective use of printed matter, such as comic books and youth magazines, should
be considered as a potential channel through which young people could receive
reproductive health information.
One of the most frequently mentioned formats believed to be effective in bringing
reproductive health information to young people was video. Many adolescents, particularly
boys, spend much of their spare time in local video houses.
The role that videos could play in disseminating reproductive health information to
adolescents. particularly boys, should be evaluated. The format and content of such
videos need to be carefully considered.
During the course of the assessment fieldwork it became clear that the majority of the
information that youth have obtained relating to reproductive health, is through their peers. It
is also reported that these are the only people who they currently feel comfortably discussing
these issues with. This would appear to indicate that a peer education intervention would be
appropriate, however the effectiveness of such interventions, where they have been tried, has
been varied.
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