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Adolescent, sexual and reproductive health and rights
In low and middle income countries, one in every 10 girls becomes a mother by the age of 16. Pregnancy during adolescence is associated with an increased risk for adverse birth outcomes as well as complications during labour and delivery. Mothers under the age of 20 are 50% more likely to have a stillbirth or to lose their newborn baby, and pregnancy, childbirth and unsafe abortions are the second leading cause of death in women between the ages of 15 and 18.
Access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health information and services is a fundamental right. However, in many parts of the world, adolescents lack access to basic information and services. In other contexts, adolescents, and especially girls, are unable to access existing services due to legal and social barriers. This can result from stigma and discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity, HIV-status, disability or marital status. Further barriers include religious norms and practices or the requirement for parental consent to access contraception or counselling.
Gender inequality and harmful social norms and practices (such as child marriage) further constrain girls’ autonomy, freedom and opportunities. Furthermore, the threat and reality of sexual and gender-based violence hinders girls’ ability to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
Save the Children’s ASRH programs work with families, schools and communities to increase the availability, accessibility and quality of sexual and reproductive health information and services across the adolescent life span, with a particular focus on meeting the needs of young adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14. The organization works intensively to end harmful social norms and practices such as child marriage, for example through community mobilization, and sexual and gender based violence. Save the Children’s programs support the development of positive life skills.
Photo: Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children
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Embarazo y Maternidad en la Adolescencia
Embarazo y maternidad adolescente – estado de las madres en México (Adolescent pregnancy and maternity – State of Mexico’s mothers) is part of Save the Children’s wider campaign Every Last Girl. Amongst the OECD countries, Mexico has the highest rate of a
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Adolescents and Youth: A comprehensive approach in Latin America and the Caribbean
Save the Children recognizes adolescents and youth as social actors and agents of change, yet they often face significant rights violations and lack of access to education and other services. Save the Children programming prioritizes the needs of adolesce
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Las y los adolescentes que México ha olvidado (Mexico’s forgotten adolescents)
Save the Children is campaigning at an international and national level to achieve the greatest impact for children with the Every Last Child Campaign. While there has been significant progress in Mexico during the last 15 years in the areas of health and
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Scaling Up Normative Change Interventions for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health: Literature review, findings and recommendations
This literature review strives to advance knowledge and increase utilization of evidence about normative change at scale – changing societal norms, opinions, beliefs, etc. – by reviewing and describing interventions that address normative change that have
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My First Baby: Guide for Adolescent Girls
Due to the pervasiveness of early child marriage in Nepal, Save the Children recognizes the need for expanding comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services that reach married adolescent girls and first-time parents. This vulnerable population has
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Encouraging Contraceptive Uptake by Motivating Men to Communicate About Family Planning: The Malawi male motivator project
>The objective of the study was to examine the effect of a peer-delivered educational intervention, the Malawi Male Motivator intervention, on couples' contraceptive uptake. We based the intervention design on the information-motivation-behavioral skills
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Family Planning in Conflict: Results of cross-sectional baseline surveys in three African countries
In 6 conflict-affected areas in Sudan, northern Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, household surveys of married or in-union women of reproductive age were conducted to determine baseline measures of family planning knowledge, attitudes, and beh
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Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Toolkit for Humanitarian Settings: A Companion to the Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings
This toolkit produced by UNFPA and Save The Children USA, is intended to guide humanitarian programme managers and healthcare providers to ensure that sexual and reproductive health interventions put into place both during and after a crisis are responsiv
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Partnership Defined Quality (PDQ): A toolbook for community and health provider collaboration for quality improvement
The Partnership Defined Quality (PDQ): A toolbook for community and health provider collaboration for quality improvement is a guide for quality improvement activities through partnership involving health providers and the community; can be used by projec
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Partnership Defined Quality Facilitation Guide
Save the Children developed and tested the “Partnership Defined Quality” (PDQ) methodology in 1996 in response to learning that providers and communities had different definitions and priorities for quality of care. The methodology was expanded and pilote