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This issue features summaries of presentations on youth from the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights, held 29-31 October 2007, in Hyderabad, India. The projects, from more than 20 countries, are grouped by the conference track and section number. Links are provided to summaries of the oral presentations and posters; links go to pages within the same PDF file (658 KB). Next month, we will return to our regular format summarizing new program resources and peer-reviewed research publications.

Conference Oral Presentations (number of presentations)

2-1. Sexual Behaviour among the Young: Risk and Protective Factors (16)

• Five presentations addressed projects related to cultural influences (1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.9, and 1.11).
• Four discussed young men, including an innovative qualitative research approach and a project with clients of sex workers (1.3, 1.8, 1.10, and 1.14).
• Four summarized issues related to youth’s knowledge and practices (1.6, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16).
• Three discussed particularly vulnerable groups, including young sex workers and slum residents (1.5, 1.7, and 1.12).

2-2. Sexual and Reproductive Rights Issues: Specific Concern for Young People (5)

These summarized research on limited youth access to reproductive health information using qualitative methods (2.1, 2.5) and surveys (2.3, 2.4), and an intervention using multipurpose resource centers (2.2).

2-3. Special Needs of Married Young People: Addressing Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV Risks (2)

Projects addressed counseling and testing issues among pregnant women in rural China (3.1) and needs of rural Thai youth as a means to help design programs (3.2).

2-4. Successful Approaches in Scaling Up Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Programmes for Young People (11)

• Two addressed gender issues, one expanding from working with males to females (4.1) and another linking domestic violence among young women to gender norms (4.4).
• Three emphasized youth involvement, including project design (4.2), training of youth advocates in school-based projects (4.8), and having youth teams create stories involving RH issues (4.11).
• Four involved behavior change communication techniques: peer education on college campuses (4.3), life skills modules (4.5), and community and youth awareness-raising (4.7, 4.10).
• Two described clinical services, focusing on youth friendly services (4.6) and prenatal services for teenage mothers (4.9).

2-5. Peer-led Interventions: Evidence beyond Pilots (5)

Projects reported successful outcomes using peer education among university students in Iran (5.1), with street children in the Philippines (5.3), in community projects in Fiji (5.4), and in rural India (5.5).

2-6. Bridging the Generation Gap: Reconstructing Attitudes towards Young People’s Sexuality (2)

Projects addressed the dynamics of Chinese female students’ sexuality in heterosexual relationships (6.1) and sexual identity among Thai adolescents (6.2).

2-7. Understanding Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Pre-adolescents (3)

Projects assessed the needs of youth in China (7.1) and among younger youth in New Zealand (7.2). An Indian study promoted a more “responsible man” image among boys in a gender equity project (7.3).

2-8. Young People in Difficult Situations: Ensuring their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (6)

• Three projects assessed needs and degree of awareness of risk, including violence among university students in the Philippines (8.1), internally displaced youth in Nepal, (8.3), and sexual activity among teens in rural India villages (8.4).
• Two interventions for vulnerable youth used school clubs in Pakistan (8.5) and Bangladesh (8.6), both finding positive impact in knowledge and in Bangladesh, behavior.
• A multi-component intervention in Indonesia for youth in a Tsunami area included clinics, radio programs, and mobile services (8.2).

2-9. Promoting Sex Education for School and Out-of-school Children (7)

• Three projects found the cooperation of the community particularly important: a successful behavior change project in India (9.1), work with resistant parents and shy children in Vietnam (9.3), and use of peer educators in outreach projects in Nepal (9.4).
• Two projects demonstrated the usefulness of school-based sex education and called for broader policy changes (9.2 and 9.6).
• Two projects used innovative approaches to increase knowledge and awareness with low-literacy youth in Cambodia (9.5) and on tea plantations in India (9.7).

Youth Posters (51)

The poster summaries are divided by the same nine categories shown above for oral presentations.

• Twenty-six posters fell in groups 2.1 (sexual behavior: risk and protective behaviors) and 2.4 (successful approaches in scaling up programs).
• Twelve posters were in groups 2.8 (difficult situations) and 2.9 (promoting sex education).

Thirteen posters were in four other groups.