What do we know about sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in Europe?

Abstract

Objectives Acceptance of sexual and reproductive health as fundamental to the sustainable development of societies has allowed for creation of new reproductive health programmes and policies. WHO sexual and reproductive health (SRH) strategies were developed in the WHO Regional Office for Europe (2001), as well as globally (2004). Adolescent SRH is important in both strategies. Despite these commitments, adolescents remain vulnerable to poor reproductive health. The goal of this paper is to analyse the current status of SRH of adolescents in Europe.

Methods Key reproductive health indicators were chosen. Information was obtained from published studies, databases and questionnaires sent to WHO reproductive health counterparts within the health ministries in the Member States of the WHO European Region.

Results Pregnancy rate, age at first sexual intercourse, contraceptive use at first and last intercourse, contraceptive prevalence, HIV knowledge, and STI rates vary widely according to the population considered. Gender difference and lack of information pertaining to SRH of all adolescent populations are other key findings.

Conclusions While the SRH of most European adolescents is good, they remain a vulnerable population. Lack of standardized reproductive indicators and age specific aggregate data make it difficult to accurately assess the situation in individual countries or perform cross country comparison.

Key words:

• Europe
• Adolescent
• Sexual health
• Reproductive health

Notes

[1] WHO defines ‘adolescents’ as people between 10 and 19 years of age, and ‘youth’ as individuals between 15 and 24 years of age. Those in the ages of 10–24 are referred to as ‘young people’. (The health of youth. Geneva: WHO, 1989.)

[2] The research was conducted before the declaration of independence by Montenegro in June, 2006. The WHO European Region currently has 53 Member States. Country names used are those that were correct when research was conducted.

[3] Rates are per 100,000 15–19-year-olds.