Healthcare for girls is a key area that has been neglected in Pakistan for decades.

While efforts are being made under some funded projects to aim at Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include healthcare for the young, most experts believe that the issue has never been properly handled. Adolescence, a transitional stage in physical and mental development between childhood and adulthood, comes with certain unique challenges. The most frequent issues include undernourishment, infection and puberty. Reproductive health and related issues are also of special concern for the youths. In Pakistan, more than half of the population is made up of the youth.

Sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental human right greatly linked to long-term health and rights to life, freedom, health, choice, privacy, education and the prohibition of discrimination.

“The biggest issue in girls’ health is reproductive health. It needs serious attention,” says Sabiha Shaheen, the executive director of Bargad, a non-government organisation working on youth issues. She says child marriages are a major issue. Other than this, she says, the reproductive health of unmarred adolescents is another neglected area. “Many girl are not educated about menstruation and prepare for it. She says these issues lead to psychological and mental disturbances in girls.

SDG 3, calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being of all, at all ages. Its prime targets are reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including family planning and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and healthcare programmes by 2030. There are six gender-specific indicators within SDG 3. These include maternal mortality ratio; births attended by skilled health personnel; new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, by sex; satisfactory family planning with modern methods; adolescent birth rate; and coverage of essential health services, including reproductive and maternal health. Aside from the SDG 3 targets, SDG 5, which includes the elimination of violence against women and girls, has important implications for health.

SDG 3, in particular, calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, at all ages. Its prime targets are reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.

In countries like Pakistan many girls lack access to reliable and correct information related to reproductive and sexual health. They face several challenges and discrimination alongside restrictions in freedoms to know about such issues. Girls living in rural areas and poor households are further marginalised.

“Unfortunately, the issue of health of young girls has not been segmentised in Pakistan,” Dr Attiya Inayatullah, a former federal minister for population and women’s development, says. “Girls are sidelined from an early age. Many lack parental attention and face nutritional challenges.” She says while making health policies, policymakers hardly look at various age groups, sexes separately. Mostly, they focus on general healthcare, not recognising the special needs of girls, and steps required to ensure their physical and emotional well-being.

Experts call for making health education a part of school and college curricula. “It is very important to educate girls on these issues and make their healthcare a special segment,” Shaheen says.

United Nations Population Fund observes that “many women and young people in Pakistan face barriers that prevent them from exercising this right. Major gaps remain at both service delivery and policy level, preventing adequate access to basic health facilities. Denying these rights has grave consequences that exacerbate poverty and inequality. It can lead to greater vulnerabilities in gender-related health, unintended pregnancies, maternal death, harmful cultural practices and sexual and gender-based violence.”

The author is a staff member.  vaqargillani@gmail.com