Supporting the Needs of Young People in Armenia

What's the Situation?

In the turbulent years which followed Armenia's independence in 1991, there were few resources to address the specific issues and risks facing the country's young people.

In the early 90s, Armenia plunged into a period of deep economic depression, exacerbated by an energy crisis, armed conflict, and the continuing financial and social cost of a devastating earthquake in 1988. The crisis, combined with new freedom to travel, led to a huge wave of migration from Armenia, with one million people leaving the country since 1990.

Of the current population of Armenia, young people aged 15-24 years old make up just over 19 per cent .

A lack of people or places to which to turn for information

In the years which followed Independence as throughout the Soviet period education for young people in sexual and reproductive health was largely ignored in Armenia. It is not yet incorporated into the school curriculum , though a few schools in the country have been involved in pilot projects.

In Armenia's rapidly-changing social and economic environment, traditional sources of support such as parents, other family members or other adults in the community don't seem able to help young people with the kind of information they need. According to a 2002 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice survey , only 18% of young respondents said that they had received sexual and/or reproductive health advice or information from their parents.

Armenia's health professionals, teachers and social welfare workers are rarely trained in matters of sexuality, sexual and reproductive health or in counseling young people. So for Armenia's youth and adolescents, the main sources of information about sexuality and sexual health matters are peers and magazines.

This lack of knowledge about sexual and reproductive health is even more risky for street children, or young people in institutions who lack family protection against exploitation.

Within the existing public health system, there are few youth-friendly services in Armenia. Young people have limited access to other sexual and reproductive health services, mainly due to the cultural stigma associated with sexuality of adolescents and financial constrains.

Although contraceptives , including condoms, are for sale in pharmacies, they are simply too expensive for many adolescents. According to the 2002 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice survey, about 20% of sexually active young males and 56% of sexually active young females have never used contraceptive methods.

Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections or HIV/AIDS

In this current situation, sexually active young people in Armenia are at a greater risk of unwanted pregnancy, induced abortion, infections or HIV/AIDS and the associated social and health consequences of these risks. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among adolescents has significantly increased over recent years.

Armenia also belongs to a region within which HIV/AIDS is spreading fast. Armenia is endangered by the fact that it has close migration ties with countries with dangerously high growth rates in sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS i.e. Russia and Ukraine.

Gender-based violence , including the trafficking of young women , is also of great concern.

Classroom education positive first steps

In principle, introducing education on sexual and reproductive health should not be a problem. According the KAP (2002) survey the majority of adults (88%) and young respondents (88%) were in favor of sexual education being introduced in to the general school curricula. Most of them said they were sure that this would not have a negative influence on the sexual behavior of adolescents.

Despite this, progress in Armenia's state run education system has been very slow. The Ministry of Education and Science working together with local NGOs, UNFPA and UNICEF, have run a number of pilot schemes in selected schools. There are plans to introduce expand the "healthy lifestyle" including sexual and reproductive health, into all schools in 2006.

Models already in use overseas are also being considered. With support from UNFPA, specialists from the Ministry of Education have visited Romania to study the Romanian experience and consider bringing this to Armenia and adapting it to the country's specific needs.

Laws in place: more implementation needed

A law on Reproductive Health, adopted by the Armenian Parliament in 2002, states that adolescents have rights both to sex education and to sexual and reproductive health protection through access to quality, youth-friendly SRH institutions and healthcare services.

Armenia's NGO community and many of its young people have been actively involved in development of this law and the process was strongly supported by UNFPA Armenia office. However, the mechanisms and tools for it to be applied locally, regionally and nationally still need to be developed.

The Government of Armenia has identified three important challenges that need to be addressed in order to meet sexual and reproductive needs of young people:

• A more positive attitude and support of the civil society, local authorities and mass media towards sexual and reproductive health education and youth-friendly approaches.

• An improvement in the knowledge, and communication and counseling skills of teachers, educators, and health providers on issues of sexual and reproductive health.

• Increased access of young people, including those in need of special protection, to:

• Information about sexual and reproductive health

• Information about gender

• Youth-friendly counseling and care

• Affordable contraception

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