Groups With Special Needs

• Very young adolescents
• Adolescent mothers
• Youth living in rural/hard-to-reach areas
• Migrant youth
• Married adolescents
• Internally-displaced youth/refugees
• Disabled youth
• Not working/not-in-school youth
• Adolescents without any parents

Very young adolescents

 Very young adolescents (VYAs) -- those between the ages of 10 and 14 years – have generally received little attention. Younger children may be reached by immunization or school registration initiatives, and older adolescents may be targeted for peer education or youth centre activities, but VYAs tend to fall outside the purview of most programmes and policies. Pre- and early adolescence is a period of dramatic physiological, social, and emotional changes. These include: solidification of gender role identification and attitudes; sexual development; emerging needs for greater privacy; development of abstract thinking skills; and higher susceptibility to peer pressure. Importantly, girls experience menarche and boys spermarche, which has profound social significance, particularly for girls.

Adolescent mothers

Pregnancy leaves girls especially vulnerable. Often they are excluded from activities or forced to drop out of school. This is particularly problematic in Asia and Africa, where the formal education of girls already lags behind that of boys. Yet school enrolment is demonstrated to yield a package of benefits for girls, their families and the communities they live in. Young mothers need an education and skills to succeed in the employment market.

Youth living in rural/hard-to-reach areas

Young people living in remote area typically lack basic reproductive health information, services and commodities, among other things. They may be exposed to cultural practices that put them at risk of bad reproductive health. They are barely part of discussions concerning their issues.

Migrant youth

Migration in developing countries is largely due to economic reasons. Many are young, separated from their families for a year or more, and, often, sexually active. They may have little knowledge about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and how to prevent them. Language and other types of barriers may limit their access to health information. Female migrants are especially exposed to sexual assault and violence by employers and other males. Paying specific attention to migrants can benefit host countries as well as countries of origin.

Married adolescents

Childhood ends abruptly for adolescents who marry. In some parts of the world, married adolescents have less access to reproductive health services compared to the unmarried adolescents. New initiatives should be developed to reach out to this particular group that should benefit from the full package of RH services when available.

Internally-displaced youth/refugees

Internally displaced populations are subject to a range of disadvantages. In the case of young people, these include barriers to education, employment and reproductive health information, services and supplies. Young refugees and displaced persons are also especially vulnerable to violence, including sexual violence. Training programmes that offer opportunities to build income-generating skills and structure their lives can be especially important.

Disabled youth

Disability undermines young people’s opportunities and rights in health, education, employment, and social participation. Ensuring that they have access to information and services is often problematic.

Not working/not-in-school youth

Young people who are no longer in school but not working rely on parents and friends for their daily subsistence and are at higher risk of being involved in gangs and illicit drugs deals. The challenge is to reach this specific group with appropriate messages taking into account their socio-economic situation, rights and needs.

Adolescents without any parents

Lacking parental support, orphaned adolescents often face poverty and isolation. Special efforts must to made to  programming must therefore also take into consideration adolescents without parental support.

Other categories of young people – such as youth living with HIV, injecting drug users, men having sex with men, commercial sex workers, youth working in the informal sector, young people living in slums, ethnic groups of young people, indigenous girls and migrants, refugees and displaced young people, and those in the fishing, mining and commercial farms – are tended to be vulnerable and lack access to information and services.