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This is time for adolescence reproductive health to receive serious attention from various parties, such as the government, educators, religious leaders and the youth themselves. Studies from some parts of Indonesia indicated that the incidence of teenage pregnancies is increasing. The global information on sexual matters has been claimed for influencing the youth to perform a risky behavior which in turn affecting their reproductive health. Basically, this paper discusses the phenomenon of adolescence reproductive health based on the research that was conducted by PPK-LIPI in collaboration with IPPA in Surabaya. Some important issues that can be highlighted are closely related to youth sexual behavior. A number of youth has already been exposed to pornography materials and some of them have engaged in sex before marriage. Although the percentage is quite small, however, it indicated that pre-marital sexual relationship occured among youth. This phenomenon likes the tip of the iceberg : what is reflected might be smaller than the factual. Ironically, the majority of people still hold a sigma that reproductive health issues are associated with sexual matters. Consequently, spreading-out information on reproductive health issues to youth is not allowed because it might stimulate them to practice pre-marital sexual intercourse. Therefore, such adolescence-friendly approaches are needed to socialize and empower the youth to perform healthy reproductive life. Advocacy models such as peer educator and youth center actually can bring a lot of advantages and positive impacts to youth as well as their parents. |
