Faced with an unwanted pregnancy and afraid to face her mother, a 16-year-old girl from Ghana drank a concoction provided by her friends in an effort to terminate it. Shortly after, she experienced heavy bleeding accompanied by severe abdominal pain. She was taken to the hospital where she died a few hours later.

• Every day, an estimated 6,000 youth are infected with HIV (UNAIDS, 2004). Globally, one-third of women who are living with HIV are between 15-24 years old. Young women represent more than 60 percent of all young people living with HIV (UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNIFEM, 2004).

Many young women throughout the world live their sexual lives against a backdrop of poverty, migration, sexual violence, early forced marriage, war, unemployment, gender discrimination, the HIV pandemic, and a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Yet a young woman’s ability to exercise her rights, determine her future and live a life of dignity rests squarely on her ability to protect her sexual and reproductive health.

International human-rights standards recognize that adolescents are entitled to the same rights as adults with respect to sexual and reproductive health information and care. Yet restrictive policies, cultural norms and lack of services often prevent these rights from being fulfilled. Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and education for adolescents and young women represents a huge challenge for health systems and policymakers.

Ipas recognizes the critical importance of addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people. In several countries, Ipas has supported projects to involve young people in defining youth-friendly services, advocating for their implementation and raising awareness of the issues adolescents and young women face. Ipas trains providers and decisionmakers on their rights of young people and their special needs, which often differ from those of adults.

• accurate information about reproductive health and sexuality, including information on how to recognize and seek early care for pregnancy;
• contraceptive information and methods to help prevent unintended pregnancy, including promotion of correct and consistent condom use;
• life-saving treatment for complications of unsafe abortion;
• safe, legal and affordable abortion services tailored to adolescents’ and young women’s health care and counseling needs;
• information about young people’s human and legal rights related to sexuality and reproduction.

Ipas strives to include young people and their perspectives in the development and implementation of projects and policies that address their health-care needs and their role as health and rights advocates. In addition, Ipas

• encourages clinicians and other health workers to improve the effectiveness of services for adolescents and young people;
• conducts research to better understand and respond to young people’s needs;
• engages in advocacy to improve health policies and practices affecting adolescents and young people; and
• improves the capacity of youth leaders to more actively participate in and influence the sexual and reproductive policies that address needs of young people.