Education for the protection of young people’s reproductive health

Abstract

Education for the protection of reproductive health is of special importance for young people in Serbia for several reasons. The first reason is an extremely low birth rate. The second is the fact that a large part of the population suffers from serious and long-standing problems in reproductive health. The third, common to all countries passing through transition, is an increase in risk behavior among young people which threatens their reproductive health either directly or indirectly. Education for reproductive health is a long-lasting process which should be initiated at an early age and should involve all social institutions, primarily health institutions, media and schools. The school is the most important link in the chain of knowledge acquisition. Therefore during elementary education, time must be found for topics such as puberty, emotional life of young people, physiology of reproduction, adolescent pregnancy, communication skills, risk behavior, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of family and children. Over the last few years more than thirty counseling centers for young people?s reproductive health have been set up in Serbia within health clinics. Unlike health institutions, media and schools have not yet been mobilized. Therefore it is necessary to promote the role of media and schools in the process of the protection of young people?s reproductive health. .Obrazovanje mladih za zastitu reproduktivnog zdravlja u Srbiji je posebno potrebno iz najmanje nekoliko razloga. Prvi razlog je izuzetno nizak nivo radjanja dece. Dugo trajanje krupnih problema u sferi reproduktivnog zdravlja stanovnistva je drugi razlog. Treci razlog izvire iz iskustava zemalja koje prolaze tranziciju i tice se porasta rizicnog ponasanja mladih koje, direktno ili indirektno, visestruko ugrozava njihovo reproduktivno zdravlje. Obrazovanje za reproduktivno zdravlje je dugotrajan proces koji bi trebalo da otpocne u sto ranijem zivotnom dobu i da u njega budu ukljucene sve socijalne institucije. Pre svih, zdravstvene ustanove, mediji i skola. Skola je najznacajnija karika u ovom lancu sticanja znanja. Stoga je neophodno da se na svim nivoima obrazovanja, najmanje tokom osnovnog skolovanja, nadje prostor za sadrzaje kao sto su pubertet, emotivni zivot mladih, fiziologija reprodukcije, adolescentna trudnoca, vestine komunikacije, rizicna ponasanja, kontracepcija, polno prenosive infekcije, znacaj porodice i dece. U proteklih nekoliko godina u Srbiji je otvoreno preko trideset savetovalista za reproduktivno zdravlje mladih u okviru domova zdravlja. Za razliku od zdravstvenih ustanova, mediji i obrazovni sistem nisu aktivirani. Otuda se namece promovisanje uloge medija i ukljucivanje skola u proces zastite reproduktivnog zdravlja mladih. .