RHIYA provides healthcare knowledge to 10,000 youths

She also knew that the disease is related to sexual intercourse and as such she felt shy to ask anyone about it.

She also had a strange feeling that she might be infected with HIV when she would get married.

Like Anu, many adolescents and youth in the country suffer from a sense of insecurity due to lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

To remove such misconceptions, the UNFPA- Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in Asia (RHIYA) was launched in September 2003 out of a realisation that young people have various sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs as well as confusions, said Ruh Afza, programme officer (monitoring and evaluation) of RHIYA.

RHIYA is aimed at raising awareness among the adolescents by updating their knowledge about the factors that affect SRH and integrating the adolescent friendly health services (AFHS) into the mainstream, she added.

The project has successfully attained its target by providing knowledge of health risk and healthcare of adolescents to more than 10,000 young people aged between 10 and 24 in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

"Now I am free and frank to discuss these issues with seniors and my friends," said Anu who received one year training on reproductive health from Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a partner of RHIYA project at Pahartoli.

Anu has been working as a peer educator (adolescent counsellor) in YPSA-RHIYA project to address the needs of adolescents.

Sanzida Akhter, an adolescent facilitator in YPSA- RHIYA project, said today's young generation is in a great risk of facing sexual abuses at an early period of their lives due to widespread satellite and cyber cafe cultures that have pornographic contents.

"Education on physical and mental changes in adolescent period has become essential for them to ensure a better and healthy life," Sanzida told this correspondent while visiting the project office at City Gate of Pahartoli in Chittagong.

Under the RHIYA project, the YPSA also provides information to underprivileged women on complex health problems at different stages of motherhood.

Sushmita Chowdhury, programme officer of YPSA, said they lay emphasis on reproductive health including safe motherhood, pregnancy risk, newborn care and family planning as well.

The RHIYA programme is being carried out in 17 district towns and four metropolitan cities in collaboration with five national and international NGOs, she added.

In Cox's Bazar, Family Planning Association of Bangladesh (FPAB) works as RHIYA project partner.

Muhammad Iqbal, field officer of FPAB, said a base-line survey was conducted at first to assess the rate of consciousness at the community level on reproductive health and then a stakeholder support committee was formed comprising adolescents and young, parents, teachers, community leaders and government officials.

Besides counselling the adolescents and young people, the peer educators counsel other stakeholders of the committee to raise awareness among them, he added.

Talking to this correspondent Abbas Mia, 15, who has been receiving counsel from RHIYA for two months, said by this time he has become conscious about his mental as well as physical changes.

" Now I feel that a change is taking place inside me. I am developing attraction for girls (smiling) and feeling lonely," he said, adding, "Here I can share my feelings and I have learnt how to cope with these changes," he added.

Iqbal said there is a RHIYA clinic at FPAB office that provides medical service to poor and underprivileged people and provide medicines at reduced rate.

Rezaul Haque Borhan, headmaster of South Kutubdia Para Ideal Primary School, said HIV risk was very high in his area, but healthcare education has reduced the risk.

RHIYA project, which ends on June 30, is being carried out in other six Asian countries Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Pakistan with the financial assistance of European Commission.