Globally, adolescents face additional barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights and in low and middle-income countries, teenage girls are almost twice as likely as women of all reproductive ages to want access to contraception, but not yet have it.
As a result, ever year, an estimated 21 million adolescents fall pregnant and 12 million give birth. Pregnancy can be dangerous for adolescents, with young people at increased risk of unsafe abortion and childbirth complications. Sadly, problems during pregnancy and childbirth continue to be the leading cause of death for adolescent girls aged 15-19 globally.
It is vital that we transform access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for young people, providing them with the adolescent-friendly information and services they want and need to better understand their bodies, have happy and safe relationships, avoid unplanned pregnancy and determine their futures. In 2017, we launched a tailored strategy for expanding access to young people.
Learn more about how we integrated this approach into the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health Programme (WISH) in our adolescents insights brief.
