

Teenage pregnancy has adverse outcomes affecting the health of adolescent girls. The number of unintended pregnancies every year among adolescent girls in the developing world is around ten million. Teenage pregnancy is one challenge faced by the world, more likely occurring in marginalized communities with poverty, lack of education, and employment. Sexual and Reproductive Health issues of adolescent girls Hence, a comprehensive SRH and Life skill education is necessary, which will empower them in decision making and adopting a healthy sexual and reproductive lifestyle. They are not trained at the secondary school level in coping with various critical life situations as a result, they don't have the skill of prompt response to these situations. The lack of SRH knowledge makes them adopt various risk-taking behaviors, affecting their mental as well as physical health. In the year 2013, about 60% of new cases of HIV infections among the age group between 15 and 24 years occurred among adolescent girls and young women. Each year 3.9 million girls aged 15-19 years undergo unsafe abortions, and around 39,000 child marriages happen every day. Complications arising due to pregnancy and childbirth constitute the second leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-old girls globally, next to suicide. The 2014 World Health Statistics reveals that the average birth rate among 15-19 years olds is girls globally. Around eight lakh adolescent girls give birth every year in low and middle-income countries. The existence of social taboos regarding SRH renders women often forgo health services. The major public health challenges faced by adolescent girls include early pregnancy, higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, STD's, RTI' s, and HIV/AIDS.

In India, the adolescent population constitutes about 21%(243 million) of the total population.Īccording to WHO, “Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) encompasses dimensions of physical, emotional mental and social wellbeing in relation to sexuality it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.“

There is not much attention given to the specific challenges and problems faced by adolescent girls. Girls constitute half of the adolescent population. There are around five hundred million adolescents living in countries with low and middle income. Adolescent girls account for over 600 million population in the world today. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescents as those between 10 and 19 years of age.
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A manual search on world health statistics, national programs regarding SRH was done. A Search of relevant publications between 20 was done through multiple electronic databases such as MEDLINE, PUBMED, and Google scholar. Need for the inclusion of SRH and life skill education for adolescents in schools, strengthening health care programs, and involvement of various Non-Governmental organizations (NGO for adolescent wellbeing. This article reviews the literature to explore the knowledge, attitude, practices, and life skills regarding SRH among adolescent girls. These have adverse effects on their mental health. Owing to a lack of knowledge on SRH, they succumb to various situations such as unhealthy menstrual hygiene practices, unwanted sex, teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortions, reproductive tract infections (RTIs), and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV/AIDS. Adolescents girls are more marginalized and face many problems in society. They have only limited knowledge regarding sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Adolescence is a period that is characterized by growth and development rapidly.
