July 11, 2019 is the 30th World Population Day, with the theme of "25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development: accelerating the process and fulfilling the promise", which advocates making persistent efforts on the basis of the framework of the International Conference on Population and Development and raising awareness of how the choices and opportunities of girls and women have changed since the Conference.
Twenty-five years ago, the Third International Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo. More than 15,000 delegates from 182 countries and regions attended the conference. The Programme of Action adopted at the end of the conference made a commitment: "To formulate a new action agenda for empowering women to ensure their full participation in the social, economic and political life of their communities at all levels."
The pursuit of rights and choices is a continuous process. Twenty-five years ago, due to the lack of contraceptives and economic and institutional obstacles, hundreds of millions of women could not enjoy the reproductive choices brought by contraceptives, and they could not choose whether to get pregnant, when to get pregnant, how often to get pregnant and who to get pregnant. Today, women’s social status has improved, and more and more women have truly realized their reproductive choices. They pay more attention to their personality independence and become an indispensable force to promote social development.
"I’m glad I helped so many women."
Tafta • Sharjah is one of the six women mentioned in the 2019 edition of the State of World Population Report. Her experience has witnessed the change of women’s rights in her country.
Tafta • Sharjah is from Albania. When she was a teenager, she always wanted to go to university to study and become a doctor. However, due to various reasons, it did not happen. After graduating from high school, she attended a one-year course to train nursing midwives, which really changed her life track.
After the training, Tafta was assigned to a remote village lacking medical facilities, medical personnel and medical supplies. Despite the difficult conditions, she is always full of enthusiasm for pre-natal care, delivery and baby care … … "I helped a lot of people, because many deliveries were carried out at home — — There were not so many medical centers at that time. I am very happy that I have helped so many women. "
Tafta has two children. She bluntly said that if it weren’t for family economic reasons, she would have given birth to more. Later, when she was pregnant again, like the eastern European women of that era, she chose to have an abortion.
The chaos in the early 1990s also had its positive side. A large number of Albanians have flooded into Italy and Greece and come into contact with new ideas and new ways of working and living. Tafta said: "We started to contact with another world and diverse perspectives. Before that, all we heard was the argument that everything outside Albania was bad."
Now, life in Albania is improving, she said. She believes that her daughter and grandchildren will have more choices and opportunities. On the one hand, today’s contraceptives have been supplied free of charge on a large scale; On the other hand, her little daughter has become a police officer — — This fully reflects the changing of the old concept of gender equality.
Tafta has been fighting cancer, and she is determined to watch her granddaughter grow up and stick to it. "I don’t want the tumor to take away my best things," she said. "As long as I have energy, I will try my best to help others."
"In colleges and universities in China, I hope more students can participate in youth and healthy peer education."
Young people provide endless creativity for social development, but with the early sexual maturity and the delay of marriage age, young people are facing the challenges brought by severe reproductive health problems. According to a national survey released in 2010, 22.4% of people aged 15-24 in China have had sex, and more than 20% of young women who have had premarital sex have experienced unwanted pregnancy. More than 50% of young people have unmet needs for reproductive health services to varying degrees. The reproductive health of young people is becoming one of the important factors affecting the healthy development of young people in China.
Young people are more accustomed to getting knowledge about sexual and reproductive health from friends and classmates who have similar experiences and background knowledge. In mid-2004, a national youth organization — — China youth network was founded under the initiative and organization of China Family Planning Association (CFPA). It became the first youth volunteer organization in China to carry out peer education on sexual and reproductive health for young people aged 10-24 and advocate sexual and reproductive health and rights.
He Shanshan, a student in Tsinghua University, is one of the core members of china youth network. She has been a volunteer for five years. When she was just a volunteer for adolescent health, He Shanshan encountered many difficulties. "Sometimes when we carry out activities at school, we will encounter situations where no one participates or the school does not support it. Some college students have misconceptions about sex and reproductive health. It is also difficult to change. I was impressed once when we talked about the specific use of condoms in a university. Some students stood up and slammed the door because they didn’t understand us. "
When talking about people’s misunderstanding of sex education, He Shanshan said: "We advocate comprehensive sex education and provide suitable sex education for children of all ages from 5 to 18. For young people, not only talk about sex, but tell them how to know their bodies and deal with intimate relationships. Gender equality is equality between men and women, and men’s rights also need to be protected. We must break the stereotype of gender. "
Speaking of the changes in these five years, He Shanshan said: "In the past, the content of sex education was to teach girls to say ‘ No ’ Now we are more telling girls how to protect themselves and communicate with their partners if they don’t want children or get sick. Every girl should have the right to choose the size of her family and the interval between giving birth to children, rather than becoming a fertility tool. "
Last October, as a youth representative of the IPPF Asia Region, He Shanshan went to Kuala Lumpur to attend the regional council and met Joshua from Tonga, an Oceania island country. He was the representative of the last IPPF Asia Region, and He Shanshan took the baton from him. He brought good news. In June 2018, he was awarded the "Queen Young Leader Award" by Queen Elizabeth II. When Joshua was in high school, because his friends had suffered from sexually transmitted diseases, he realized that sexual and reproductive health was affecting the healthy lives of young people in Tonga, so he began to participate in the training of comprehensive sex education. Since then, he has been doing his best until he handed over the baton to He Shanshan. There are still many global youth health volunteers with similar experiences. They have been subtly influencing everyone around them with their understanding, care and sense of responsibility.
"We not only represent the youth and the country, we are working hard for the whole cause, and the international environment is very friendly, which has always encouraged our young people to speak out." He Shanshan said.
"Dance of Youth and Healthy Life" gathers the power of upward growth.
Hu Lan (third from left) is at the event site.
"How do women protect themselves in the face of partner pressure? Let me tell you a story that happened around me … …” In the auditorium of a factory in Longgang District, Shenzhen, a "Dance of Youth and Healthy Life" project is going to the "story sharing" link. The narrator of the story is Xiaoxue, a volunteer of the youth health project and a working girl who came to Shenzhen from Hunan.
The lights gradually dimmed, and the crowd gradually became quiet. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Xiaoxue. Xiaoxue’s thoughts returned to the unforgettable experience of her best girlfriend eight years ago with soft music: in her early twenties, at the best age of her life, Xiaoxue’s girlfriend suffered an unexpected pregnancy. Her so-called boyfriend chose to escape because he was at a loss. Xiaoxue accompanied her best friend to a small clinic and had an induced abortion. Less than a year later, the same situation was staged again. Because she was afraid of the eyes of the people around her, her best friend chose to go to a small clinic with poor medical and health conditions, and repeated surgical injuries caused great harm to her body and mind, which also laid a hidden danger for Xiaoxue’s best friend’s marriage and childbearing life.
When the story was finished, the music stopped and the scene was quiet. Xiaoxue broke the silence: "At that time, we were very young, and no one taught us about sex. We didn’t know how to protect ourselves. The fluky psychology and partner pressure when getting along with close partners all caused great harm to many women like my best friend. After listening to the story, I believe everyone should have their own answers." This is a fragment of the "Dance of Youth and Healthy Life" project entering the factory to carry out activities.
“‘ Dance of youth and healthy life ’ It is an international youth project jointly introduced to China by the China Family Planning Association and the United Nations Population Fund. It is a youth project with music and dance as the carrier, psychological model activities as the foundation, and sexual and reproductive health as the core of knowledge to guide young people to establish positive sexual concepts and attitudes towards life. " Hu Lan, the organizer of this activity, is the deputy stationmaster of Fuchengao Community Workstation in Pinghu Street, Longgang District, Shenzhen, and she is also the trainer of the international headquarters of the "Dance of Youth and Healthy Life" project. She told CCTV reporters that she is interpreting comprehensive education in a way that young people like, affecting not only women but also men.
A factory doctor once took Hu Lan’s hand and said, "I really hope your activities can be carried out for a long time. There are too many female workers, and they need to strengthen their awareness of self-protection." Hu Lan said that some factory leaders hope to add the content of sex and reproductive health education to the induction training of new employees. She saw that more and more people in society realized the importance of sex education.
The activities organized by Hu Lan not only entered the community factory, but also reached the middle school students. "In the past, when talking about gender topics in physical health classes in primary and secondary schools, teachers would say: ‘ Look at these two pages for yourself ’ . Now we have the opportunity to enter the school, not only to talk about knowledge points, but also to transmit an idea, which is welcomed by students. "
In recent years, news such as "teenage pregnancy" and "children being sexually abused" have been exposed in the media. Parents and schools generally recognize the necessity of sex education, but there are still ambiguous attitudes about the way and degree of sex education, and even take evasive actions.
At present, Hu Lan’s community still enters primary and secondary schools with short-term and decentralized themes, such as "welcoming adolescence", "preventing sexual harassment" and "staying away from AIDS", or carries out project activities in schools that are very supportive of project activities as a whole class.
At the same time, Hu Lan also expressed his confusion. With the adjustment of the national population policy and the shift of the focus of local government work, the grassroots youth health education team is unstable. Many social workers can no longer engage in youth health education because of job adjustment, so they can only participate in it in their spare time.
Take the area where Hu Lan is located as an example. In 2016, there were 225 young pioneers in Pinghu Street, Longgang District, Shenzhen for rotation training, and a core youth pioneer team of 30 people was formed to carry out youth health education activities in streets with a population of about 500,000. After the institutional adjustment, 80% of the staff are currently diverted to other departments. At present, only the members of the core team of the project are relatively stable, and the data is just a microcosm of the loss of local basic youth health education personnel. Although there is a constant inflow of fresh blood, the cost of time and technology has affected the development of youth health education.
In sharp contrast to the sharp drop in personnel, schools, enterprises and community service centers that have conducted youth health education have a rising practical need for youth health education.
As a person who has served in the front line of the community for a long time, Hu Lan and his colleagues have seen too many real cases. They carefully prepare and carry out every activity with enthusiasm and expectation. Instead of flowery words and many grand slogans, what they have is a heart full of sincerity and social responsibility. Hu Lan said that the children’s "seeking help" when they encounter troubles, the trust of community residents and the support of teachers and leaders who care about the cause of youth health education have all given them great motivation to work. "A single spark can start a prairie fire." Hu Lan said that she would like to be that little flame, hot and strong. (Text/Feng Songyi)
