Transitions into Puberty and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information in Two Humanitarian Settings: A cross-sectional survey of very young adolescents from Somalia and Myanmar

Very young adolescents (VYA) in humanitarian settings are largely neglected in terms of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This study describes the characteristics of VYA aged 10-14 years in two humanitarian settings, focusing on transitions into puberty and access to SRH information.

Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey with Somali VYA residing in the Kobe refugee camp in Ethiopia and VYA from Myanmar residing in the Mae Sot and Phop Phra migrant communities in Thailand. The average age was 12 years (about half were girls) in both communities. Participants were recruited using multi-stage cluster-based sampling with probability proportional to size in each site. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sociodemographic, family, peer, and schooling characteristics and to explore transitions into puberty and access to SRH information.