Realizing access to sexual health information and services for adolescents through the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women

Abstract

One of the goals agreed to at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo 1994, was to ensure that universal access to sexual and reproductive health services is guaranteed to all, especially women and adolescents, by the year 2015. Several years after this commitment was made, the hope of realizing this goal seems to be diminishing by the day, particularly for young people in developing countries including Africa. Over the years sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents have continued to receive little attention from governments in developing countries, particularly Africa. This in turn has led to unmet needs of adolescents' sexual health. It is estimated that about 14 million adolescents within the ages of fifteen to nineteen years give birth annually. Many of these births, and a great number of abortions, occur in developing countries, where adolescents lack access to comprehensive sexual health care services.