On this year’s World Population Day, UNFPA calls for greater investments in the health and education of adolescents and youth   

BISHKEK, July 11, 2014 – Greater investments in the health and education of young people are necessary so that adolescents and youth can acquire the knowledge, skills and resilience they need to lead healthy, productive and fulfilling lives, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, said on the occasion of this year’s World Population Day.

“will be inserted as soon as it is available”said Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, young people aged 14 to 28 constitute 30.2% of the total population. The unemployment rate in the age group 15 to 29 years was 45.4% in 2012, according to national statistics.  As of June 2014, the total number of HIV infected people in Kyrgyzstan is 5.392, 32% out of this are young people aged between 15-29[1]. In 2012, births among girls aged 15-17 were 7.7 per 1000 girls. 7.6% of  abortions in 2012 were among adolescents of ages 12-19[2]. Of all registered marriages 9.6 % were among girls of ages 15-19[3].

In this context, it is crucial to invest in young people’s health and education, improve access to age appropriate friendly sexual reproductive health services.

” UNFPA calls on the authorities, communities, cities and villages to join with us and the UN family as we commit ourselves to work with young people towards a future in which they can enter freely into a productive adulthood because they are educated, healthy, free from STIs and HIV, are not exposed to violence, unintended pregnancy or unsafe abortion; a future where girls are treated with dignity and respect in equal measure with boys and where, regardless of their identity, young people’s human rights are promoted and respected.” said Nikolai Botev, UNFPA Country  Director.

UNFPA supports the Government of Kyrgyz Republic to develop appropriate youth policies and carries out a range of programs to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people by integrating healthy life style curricula into the vocational training education system and youth-friendly health services into the Primary Health Care Services and Students’ Policlinic. UNFPA helped to create a youth-peer education network throughout the country to   reach out to young people including those who are disadvantaged.  A wide range of adolescents and youth are being trained on leadership skills as well as skills to analyze and use information for effective interpersonal relationships and persuasive communication that help them to ensure opportunities for an equitable future.

[1] Republican AIDS Centre, 2014

[2] Republican Medical Information Centre,  2012

[3] Demographic Health Survey , Kyrgyz Republic, 2012