LUSAKA, ZAMBIA β Natasha, a student in her third year at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, the capital, says she will never forget the way a health worker at a local clinic scolded her when she went there seeking sexual and reproductive health information and services. Natasha, who declined to use her full name for privacy reasons, says she went to the clinic for information on contraception.
But she says the nurses there said that they were reluctant to help her because she was not married and too young to be seeking family planning information and services. Natasha says her experience with health worker was hurtful and will discourage her from going back.
She says her friends have had similar experiences when trying to obtain sexual and reproductive health care and information. Doctors and activists say more training is needed to make health workers more receptive to the younger generation.
The government has acknowledged the gap in services for the young and has begun to develop a strategy to address it, as have multiple nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, and global campaigns. Like in other countries around the world, the provision of sexual and reproductive health services to young people in Zambia β although legal β is still a sensitive issue. High fertility levels have led to rapid population growth here, Sipangule said last month at the 44 th Session of the U.
Commission on Population and Development. Teenage pregnancy is also high in Zambia, with about three in 10 women beginning childbearing between ages 15 to 19, according to the most recent Zambia Demographic and Health Survey, ZDHS, from The majority of young people surveyed said they knew of a condom source, but many say it is difficult to obtain sexual and reproductive health services.
