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Latest stories from IPPF EN

Spotlight

A selection of stories from across the Federation

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Story

Sexuality education keeps young people safe from harm

A comic strip story about how all young people have the right to build the crucial skills and knowledge that they need to be safe, healthy and happy.

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YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 15 October 2022

"The internet can sometimes be an obstacle to health and wellbeing. We need doctors to give us the right information."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Tarin Husic is a 21-year-old student from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tarin, describe your experience of access to SRHR* education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID I was in high school where we had a few different education sessions and lectures about this topic. As we were not that familiar with a lot of things regarding SRHR, that was the time we should have been learning about it. After the pandemic started, life turned upside down and everything strived to be held online. During COVID, I had some problems relating to SRHR, so I wanted to inform myself more and more. One of the ways was to surf the internet and find all the necessary information. Doctors were better options, as we can take them more seriously. They would always draw my attention to SRHR-related issues, and in that way, I was able to gain knowledge and more information.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about things like SRHR and to pay more attention to my health in general. The internet was full of different information, including SRHR. I think that education, especially after the peak of the pandemic, should be taken more seriously, since there is a chance that people will pay much more attention to their health and how to improve it, or how to protect themselves, after surviving all those moments of isolation and restrictions.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   Honestly, the internet sometimes can be an obstacle. You always find the harshest facts and information, besides what is useful. As you read all those things, your thoughts become more negative, and you start thinking in the wrong direction. Doctors' role is to give us the right information - otherwise we get carried away. We need them to be available and able to explain things, as well as drawing our attention to what is most important.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think the best way is to talk to young people and to see in which direction they are thinking, to try changing their perspectives to be as positive as possible. Young people are very often afraid to freely express themselves about something they need or about anything that is in their thoughts, and that should be taken into consideration. Sometimes they need to be given space to relax and talk about SRHR openly, since it is not yet a common topic in our surroundings.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I think that workshops, projects, and educational programs could be very useful to raise young people’s the awareness, knowledge and skills, since this topic tends to be avoided at our age. It would be important to try and organize some kind of education or just workshops that would keep young people interested. Then the topic would become less taboo and people would talk more openly about it, because in our country not many people have developed a culture of talking about topics like SRHR.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Ajla-Ena Burnazovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"The internet can sometimes be an obstacle to health and wellbeing. We need doctors to give us the right information."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Tarin Husic is a 21-year-old student from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tarin, describe your experience of access to SRHR* education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID I was in high school where we had a few different education sessions and lectures about this topic. As we were not that familiar with a lot of things regarding SRHR, that was the time we should have been learning about it. After the pandemic started, life turned upside down and everything strived to be held online. During COVID, I had some problems relating to SRHR, so I wanted to inform myself more and more. One of the ways was to surf the internet and find all the necessary information. Doctors were better options, as we can take them more seriously. They would always draw my attention to SRHR-related issues, and in that way, I was able to gain knowledge and more information.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about things like SRHR and to pay more attention to my health in general. The internet was full of different information, including SRHR. I think that education, especially after the peak of the pandemic, should be taken more seriously, since there is a chance that people will pay much more attention to their health and how to improve it, or how to protect themselves, after surviving all those moments of isolation and restrictions.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   Honestly, the internet sometimes can be an obstacle. You always find the harshest facts and information, besides what is useful. As you read all those things, your thoughts become more negative, and you start thinking in the wrong direction. Doctors' role is to give us the right information - otherwise we get carried away. We need them to be available and able to explain things, as well as drawing our attention to what is most important.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think the best way is to talk to young people and to see in which direction they are thinking, to try changing their perspectives to be as positive as possible. Young people are very often afraid to freely express themselves about something they need or about anything that is in their thoughts, and that should be taken into consideration. Sometimes they need to be given space to relax and talk about SRHR openly, since it is not yet a common topic in our surroundings.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I think that workshops, projects, and educational programs could be very useful to raise young people’s the awareness, knowledge and skills, since this topic tends to be avoided at our age. It would be important to try and organize some kind of education or just workshops that would keep young people interested. Then the topic would become less taboo and people would talk more openly about it, because in our country not many people have developed a culture of talking about topics like SRHR.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Ajla-Ena Burnazovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"Care providers need more training so that they have the knowledge to answer young people's questions."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  This 23-year-old LGBTIQ man from Bosnia and Herzegovina is a medical worker and an activist for youth SRHR*. As a volunteer peer educator, he supports other young people to learn and develop crucial life skills relating to their sexual and reproductive health.   Describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID, I received information through some NGOs and if I went directly to the doctor. Very little was said about these topics in our country and information was only visible if I searched for it myself. Then during the pandemic everything moved to the internet and a lot of information started to be shared on social networks.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? The pandemic has helped a lot in terms of better content and more accurate information on the internet. A new trend has been born, where influencers started to create content and dedicate their profiles to these topics. Thanks to the excellent response, this trend continued even after COVID and became part of everyday life. We forgot how to do things in person, so we left a lot of it to online platforms. I think that no matter how many shortcomings there are, it is very good because of the availability of information to everyone.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have improved this?   Unfortunately, during the pandemic, SRHR was not always in focus because of the “war” response to the virus. The high death rate and people’s fear of COVID meant that there was not much focus on the topic, and little media attention. People sadly still don’t understand the importance of SRHR. What could have changed is that doctors and politicians should have spoken more publicly about this topic and raised people’s awareness, but unfortunately they didn't do that.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? A very important lesson they should have learned is that they were not taking the right approach towards young people. If we have interesting and educational content, peer educators and youth leaders can easily reach them. It’s important to talk about taboo topics that every young person faces. We can only achieve change by changing the approach and understanding their needs.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I recommend that more workshops be held to provide information to health workers and people who work directly with young people so that they can provide answers to their questions. Care and support providers are often prevented from providing young people with accurate information because they themselves learn and receive information in an old-fashioned way. Lack of knowledge is the key to the problem.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Azra Mehmedovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"Care providers need more training so that they have the knowledge to answer young people's questions."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  This 23-year-old LGBTIQ man from Bosnia and Herzegovina is a medical worker and an activist for youth SRHR*. As a volunteer peer educator, he supports other young people to learn and develop crucial life skills relating to their sexual and reproductive health.   Describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID, I received information through some NGOs and if I went directly to the doctor. Very little was said about these topics in our country and information was only visible if I searched for it myself. Then during the pandemic everything moved to the internet and a lot of information started to be shared on social networks.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? The pandemic has helped a lot in terms of better content and more accurate information on the internet. A new trend has been born, where influencers started to create content and dedicate their profiles to these topics. Thanks to the excellent response, this trend continued even after COVID and became part of everyday life. We forgot how to do things in person, so we left a lot of it to online platforms. I think that no matter how many shortcomings there are, it is very good because of the availability of information to everyone.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have improved this?   Unfortunately, during the pandemic, SRHR was not always in focus because of the “war” response to the virus. The high death rate and people’s fear of COVID meant that there was not much focus on the topic, and little media attention. People sadly still don’t understand the importance of SRHR. What could have changed is that doctors and politicians should have spoken more publicly about this topic and raised people’s awareness, but unfortunately they didn't do that.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? A very important lesson they should have learned is that they were not taking the right approach towards young people. If we have interesting and educational content, peer educators and youth leaders can easily reach them. It’s important to talk about taboo topics that every young person faces. We can only achieve change by changing the approach and understanding their needs.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I recommend that more workshops be held to provide information to health workers and people who work directly with young people so that they can provide answers to their questions. Care and support providers are often prevented from providing young people with accurate information because they themselves learn and receive information in an old-fashioned way. Lack of knowledge is the key to the problem.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Azra Mehmedovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of group of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"I have managed to help people feel happier with themselves and in their bodies."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Lana is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Lana, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. In terms of overall SRHR education before and during COVID-19, I was very uneducated. At the beginning, I was 14 years old, so personally, I considered talking about SRHR topics very embarrassing and taboo. I was a kid and did not know that it is totally normal and important to talk about SRHR at that age. I live in a country where it is usually seen as “weird” to talk about SRHR, especially at my age at the time, so I felt like I shouldn’t participate in discussions on the topic. I was very uninformed and took minimal care of myself as regards SRHR, especially during COVID. It was a very hard time for everyone, and I was still finding myself, so it was really difficult for me to put priorities in the right place, especially with everything closed down; I had no access to any kind of SRHR education.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? How are things now? Sadly, nothing changed for the better during the pandemic. I was still just a kid and SRHR was a taboo topic for me and I was very uninformed. Luckily, after the pandemic, I started to realize that it’s totally normal and important to talk about sexual and reproductive health. Now I tend to help everyone who feels unsafe talking about it to realize that it is not taboo, as I used to think, and actually very important. I feel safe in my own body and I make sure I access education about SRHR as much as I need to. I make sure to take care of myself as regards to healthcare and I have been feeling a lot better, happier and safer since.   What was the biggest obstacle/challenge to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   My biggest challenge was overcoming the fact that SRHR is not seen as a normal topic to talk about and cover, especially for a 14 year old. Speaking to a professional, either a medical professional or my parents, would have helped a lot. I would have felt safer talking about the topic and would have realized from a young age that it is a totally normal topic to cover and is important for keeping myself healthy and happy.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? Listening. A lot of young people, including me, were afraid to open up. I lacked in-person communication and it has affected my SRHR education a lot. Personally, a heartfelt recommendation to professionals working with young people on this topic is to talk with them as much as they need to and as much as those young people feel the need to talk. I think it is very important for us to get heard and someone listening to our insecurities about talking over a specific topic would help youngsters open up and understand that it is not a taboo topic. COVID has made me realize that, if I have a question or a problem as regards to SRHR, I would want myself to be heard and for a professional to really listen to me and help me. I think it would help other young people a lot.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? Again, greater availability of professionals in health centres. It is very important for our voices and thoughts to be heard. It is a great way of helping us and making us understand that people really do listen to us and really do want to help us. It would help a lot, like it helped me.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator on SRHR? How has this experience been so far? I have been through a lot of things in life. I want to help people understand that it is okay if we all have our problems but I also want to help people lead their life in the right direction, overcoming those problems. I love helping people. I love seeing smiles on their faces after something that they thought might ruin their day and then overcoming it. It is the most beautiful thing ever. I want to educate people on various topics and help them understand that we, young people, are as much of a person as adults are. We have our own problems too. We also want to be heard. We also want to get educated on topics that are socially labelled as “inappropriate to youngsters”, but are as a matter of fact, just put that way by society and are totally normal to be addressed from teenage years. My experience as an educator has been wonderful. I had managed to help people open up, feel happier with themselves and in their bodies and realize that life is beautiful if you make it your own utopia. I love this hobby of mine and hope to continue it as long as I can.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of group of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"I have managed to help people feel happier with themselves and in their bodies."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Lana is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Lana, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. In terms of overall SRHR education before and during COVID-19, I was very uneducated. At the beginning, I was 14 years old, so personally, I considered talking about SRHR topics very embarrassing and taboo. I was a kid and did not know that it is totally normal and important to talk about SRHR at that age. I live in a country where it is usually seen as “weird” to talk about SRHR, especially at my age at the time, so I felt like I shouldn’t participate in discussions on the topic. I was very uninformed and took minimal care of myself as regards SRHR, especially during COVID. It was a very hard time for everyone, and I was still finding myself, so it was really difficult for me to put priorities in the right place, especially with everything closed down; I had no access to any kind of SRHR education.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? How are things now? Sadly, nothing changed for the better during the pandemic. I was still just a kid and SRHR was a taboo topic for me and I was very uninformed. Luckily, after the pandemic, I started to realize that it’s totally normal and important to talk about sexual and reproductive health. Now I tend to help everyone who feels unsafe talking about it to realize that it is not taboo, as I used to think, and actually very important. I feel safe in my own body and I make sure I access education about SRHR as much as I need to. I make sure to take care of myself as regards to healthcare and I have been feeling a lot better, happier and safer since.   What was the biggest obstacle/challenge to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   My biggest challenge was overcoming the fact that SRHR is not seen as a normal topic to talk about and cover, especially for a 14 year old. Speaking to a professional, either a medical professional or my parents, would have helped a lot. I would have felt safer talking about the topic and would have realized from a young age that it is a totally normal topic to cover and is important for keeping myself healthy and happy.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? Listening. A lot of young people, including me, were afraid to open up. I lacked in-person communication and it has affected my SRHR education a lot. Personally, a heartfelt recommendation to professionals working with young people on this topic is to talk with them as much as they need to and as much as those young people feel the need to talk. I think it is very important for us to get heard and someone listening to our insecurities about talking over a specific topic would help youngsters open up and understand that it is not a taboo topic. COVID has made me realize that, if I have a question or a problem as regards to SRHR, I would want myself to be heard and for a professional to really listen to me and help me. I think it would help other young people a lot.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? Again, greater availability of professionals in health centres. It is very important for our voices and thoughts to be heard. It is a great way of helping us and making us understand that people really do listen to us and really do want to help us. It would help a lot, like it helped me.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator on SRHR? How has this experience been so far? I have been through a lot of things in life. I want to help people understand that it is okay if we all have our problems but I also want to help people lead their life in the right direction, overcoming those problems. I love helping people. I love seeing smiles on their faces after something that they thought might ruin their day and then overcoming it. It is the most beautiful thing ever. I want to educate people on various topics and help them understand that we, young people, are as much of a person as adults are. We have our own problems too. We also want to be heard. We also want to get educated on topics that are socially labelled as “inappropriate to youngsters”, but are as a matter of fact, just put that way by society and are totally normal to be addressed from teenage years. My experience as an educator has been wonderful. I had managed to help people open up, feel happier with themselves and in their bodies and realize that life is beautiful if you make it your own utopia. I love this hobby of mine and hope to continue it as long as I can.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"It's so important in a crisis like COVID that nobody gets left behind."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Timur is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Timur, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID.  Before COVID, it was much easier to work on trainings and projects related to SRHR. Everything was done live and with the mutual interaction of participants and lecturers. Although we quickly adjusted during the pandemic, communication was difficult without live contact, but we successfully kept things going. As a peer educator and a young person, I had great access to information about SRHR. I knew who to turn to, but most other young people didn't. During COVID it was very difficult to find accurate information about SRHR.   Did anything change for the better during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? If so, has this continued since COVID is no longer an urgent crisis?  Yes, the pandemic has allowed us to get to know online tools better, and this enables us to process some topics in a much more interesting way. We have continued to use some methods we discovered in the first phase of COVID because we saw that they were easier but also better or more interesting for the participants themselves.    What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? The biggest challenge for peer educators was how to reach young people to provide information about SRHR. But even for me as a young person it was very difficult to find information and to reach professionals in health centres who deal with SRHR. The next challenge was that most of the NGOs in my vicinity closed their open centers and youth centers. Before the pandemic, young people could find all relevant information in these places. Now, most youth centres are open again, though some are working at reduced capacity.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think it's important that authorities and health professionals learn how important it is to have a ready response to crisis situations. And how important it is that in situations like this, they "leave no one behind". They should focus even more on health and ensure the availability of services for vulnerable groups. The next thing that governments and health professionals could learn is that online tools are very important and can be useful.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? I think it is important to introduce many more online platforms that offer answers to young people's questions. That way we have access to accurate information. It would make a difference because young people would use accurate information they got from qualified people via the internet, where they spend a lot of time today, and not the false information they find on portals, written by people who are not experts in these topics.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator and activist for SRHR? How has this experience been so far? It helped me to get more involved when I saw how much benefit and importance it has, both for me and for all those who participate. With small steps, we change the consciousness of society and educate people about topics that are present in their environment.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers  

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"It's so important in a crisis like COVID that nobody gets left behind."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Timur is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Timur, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID.  Before COVID, it was much easier to work on trainings and projects related to SRHR. Everything was done live and with the mutual interaction of participants and lecturers. Although we quickly adjusted during the pandemic, communication was difficult without live contact, but we successfully kept things going. As a peer educator and a young person, I had great access to information about SRHR. I knew who to turn to, but most other young people didn't. During COVID it was very difficult to find accurate information about SRHR.   Did anything change for the better during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? If so, has this continued since COVID is no longer an urgent crisis?  Yes, the pandemic has allowed us to get to know online tools better, and this enables us to process some topics in a much more interesting way. We have continued to use some methods we discovered in the first phase of COVID because we saw that they were easier but also better or more interesting for the participants themselves.    What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? The biggest challenge for peer educators was how to reach young people to provide information about SRHR. But even for me as a young person it was very difficult to find information and to reach professionals in health centres who deal with SRHR. The next challenge was that most of the NGOs in my vicinity closed their open centers and youth centers. Before the pandemic, young people could find all relevant information in these places. Now, most youth centres are open again, though some are working at reduced capacity.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think it's important that authorities and health professionals learn how important it is to have a ready response to crisis situations. And how important it is that in situations like this, they "leave no one behind". They should focus even more on health and ensure the availability of services for vulnerable groups. The next thing that governments and health professionals could learn is that online tools are very important and can be useful.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? I think it is important to introduce many more online platforms that offer answers to young people's questions. That way we have access to accurate information. It would make a difference because young people would use accurate information they got from qualified people via the internet, where they spend a lot of time today, and not the false information they find on portals, written by people who are not experts in these topics.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator and activist for SRHR? How has this experience been so far? It helped me to get more involved when I saw how much benefit and importance it has, both for me and for all those who participate. With small steps, we change the consciousness of society and educate people about topics that are present in their environment.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers  

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 15 October 2022

"The internet can sometimes be an obstacle to health and wellbeing. We need doctors to give us the right information."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Tarin Husic is a 21-year-old student from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tarin, describe your experience of access to SRHR* education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID I was in high school where we had a few different education sessions and lectures about this topic. As we were not that familiar with a lot of things regarding SRHR, that was the time we should have been learning about it. After the pandemic started, life turned upside down and everything strived to be held online. During COVID, I had some problems relating to SRHR, so I wanted to inform myself more and more. One of the ways was to surf the internet and find all the necessary information. Doctors were better options, as we can take them more seriously. They would always draw my attention to SRHR-related issues, and in that way, I was able to gain knowledge and more information.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about things like SRHR and to pay more attention to my health in general. The internet was full of different information, including SRHR. I think that education, especially after the peak of the pandemic, should be taken more seriously, since there is a chance that people will pay much more attention to their health and how to improve it, or how to protect themselves, after surviving all those moments of isolation and restrictions.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   Honestly, the internet sometimes can be an obstacle. You always find the harshest facts and information, besides what is useful. As you read all those things, your thoughts become more negative, and you start thinking in the wrong direction. Doctors' role is to give us the right information - otherwise we get carried away. We need them to be available and able to explain things, as well as drawing our attention to what is most important.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think the best way is to talk to young people and to see in which direction they are thinking, to try changing their perspectives to be as positive as possible. Young people are very often afraid to freely express themselves about something they need or about anything that is in their thoughts, and that should be taken into consideration. Sometimes they need to be given space to relax and talk about SRHR openly, since it is not yet a common topic in our surroundings.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I think that workshops, projects, and educational programs could be very useful to raise young people’s the awareness, knowledge and skills, since this topic tends to be avoided at our age. It would be important to try and organize some kind of education or just workshops that would keep young people interested. Then the topic would become less taboo and people would talk more openly about it, because in our country not many people have developed a culture of talking about topics like SRHR.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Ajla-Ena Burnazovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"The internet can sometimes be an obstacle to health and wellbeing. We need doctors to give us the right information."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Tarin Husic is a 21-year-old student from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tarin, describe your experience of access to SRHR* education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID I was in high school where we had a few different education sessions and lectures about this topic. As we were not that familiar with a lot of things regarding SRHR, that was the time we should have been learning about it. After the pandemic started, life turned upside down and everything strived to be held online. During COVID, I had some problems relating to SRHR, so I wanted to inform myself more and more. One of the ways was to surf the internet and find all the necessary information. Doctors were better options, as we can take them more seriously. They would always draw my attention to SRHR-related issues, and in that way, I was able to gain knowledge and more information.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about things like SRHR and to pay more attention to my health in general. The internet was full of different information, including SRHR. I think that education, especially after the peak of the pandemic, should be taken more seriously, since there is a chance that people will pay much more attention to their health and how to improve it, or how to protect themselves, after surviving all those moments of isolation and restrictions.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   Honestly, the internet sometimes can be an obstacle. You always find the harshest facts and information, besides what is useful. As you read all those things, your thoughts become more negative, and you start thinking in the wrong direction. Doctors' role is to give us the right information - otherwise we get carried away. We need them to be available and able to explain things, as well as drawing our attention to what is most important.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think the best way is to talk to young people and to see in which direction they are thinking, to try changing their perspectives to be as positive as possible. Young people are very often afraid to freely express themselves about something they need or about anything that is in their thoughts, and that should be taken into consideration. Sometimes they need to be given space to relax and talk about SRHR openly, since it is not yet a common topic in our surroundings.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I think that workshops, projects, and educational programs could be very useful to raise young people’s the awareness, knowledge and skills, since this topic tends to be avoided at our age. It would be important to try and organize some kind of education or just workshops that would keep young people interested. Then the topic would become less taboo and people would talk more openly about it, because in our country not many people have developed a culture of talking about topics like SRHR.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Ajla-Ena Burnazovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"Care providers need more training so that they have the knowledge to answer young people's questions."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  This 23-year-old LGBTIQ man from Bosnia and Herzegovina is a medical worker and an activist for youth SRHR*. As a volunteer peer educator, he supports other young people to learn and develop crucial life skills relating to their sexual and reproductive health.   Describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID, I received information through some NGOs and if I went directly to the doctor. Very little was said about these topics in our country and information was only visible if I searched for it myself. Then during the pandemic everything moved to the internet and a lot of information started to be shared on social networks.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? The pandemic has helped a lot in terms of better content and more accurate information on the internet. A new trend has been born, where influencers started to create content and dedicate their profiles to these topics. Thanks to the excellent response, this trend continued even after COVID and became part of everyday life. We forgot how to do things in person, so we left a lot of it to online platforms. I think that no matter how many shortcomings there are, it is very good because of the availability of information to everyone.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have improved this?   Unfortunately, during the pandemic, SRHR was not always in focus because of the “war” response to the virus. The high death rate and people’s fear of COVID meant that there was not much focus on the topic, and little media attention. People sadly still don’t understand the importance of SRHR. What could have changed is that doctors and politicians should have spoken more publicly about this topic and raised people’s awareness, but unfortunately they didn't do that.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? A very important lesson they should have learned is that they were not taking the right approach towards young people. If we have interesting and educational content, peer educators and youth leaders can easily reach them. It’s important to talk about taboo topics that every young person faces. We can only achieve change by changing the approach and understanding their needs.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I recommend that more workshops be held to provide information to health workers and people who work directly with young people so that they can provide answers to their questions. Care and support providers are often prevented from providing young people with accurate information because they themselves learn and receive information in an old-fashioned way. Lack of knowledge is the key to the problem.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Azra Mehmedovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"Care providers need more training so that they have the knowledge to answer young people's questions."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  This 23-year-old LGBTIQ man from Bosnia and Herzegovina is a medical worker and an activist for youth SRHR*. As a volunteer peer educator, he supports other young people to learn and develop crucial life skills relating to their sexual and reproductive health.   Describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. Before COVID, I received information through some NGOs and if I went directly to the doctor. Very little was said about these topics in our country and information was only visible if I searched for it myself. Then during the pandemic everything moved to the internet and a lot of information started to be shared on social networks.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? The pandemic has helped a lot in terms of better content and more accurate information on the internet. A new trend has been born, where influencers started to create content and dedicate their profiles to these topics. Thanks to the excellent response, this trend continued even after COVID and became part of everyday life. We forgot how to do things in person, so we left a lot of it to online platforms. I think that no matter how many shortcomings there are, it is very good because of the availability of information to everyone.   What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have improved this?   Unfortunately, during the pandemic, SRHR was not always in focus because of the “war” response to the virus. The high death rate and people’s fear of COVID meant that there was not much focus on the topic, and little media attention. People sadly still don’t understand the importance of SRHR. What could have changed is that doctors and politicians should have spoken more publicly about this topic and raised people’s awareness, but unfortunately they didn't do that.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? A very important lesson they should have learned is that they were not taking the right approach towards young people. If we have interesting and educational content, peer educators and youth leaders can easily reach them. It’s important to talk about taboo topics that every young person faces. We can only achieve change by changing the approach and understanding their needs.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? I recommend that more workshops be held to provide information to health workers and people who work directly with young people so that they can provide answers to their questions. Care and support providers are often prevented from providing young people with accurate information because they themselves learn and receive information in an old-fashioned way. Lack of knowledge is the key to the problem.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by Azra Mehmedovic, a member of the regional youth group of the IPPF EN project Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of group of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"I have managed to help people feel happier with themselves and in their bodies."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Lana is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Lana, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. In terms of overall SRHR education before and during COVID-19, I was very uneducated. At the beginning, I was 14 years old, so personally, I considered talking about SRHR topics very embarrassing and taboo. I was a kid and did not know that it is totally normal and important to talk about SRHR at that age. I live in a country where it is usually seen as “weird” to talk about SRHR, especially at my age at the time, so I felt like I shouldn’t participate in discussions on the topic. I was very uninformed and took minimal care of myself as regards SRHR, especially during COVID. It was a very hard time for everyone, and I was still finding myself, so it was really difficult for me to put priorities in the right place, especially with everything closed down; I had no access to any kind of SRHR education.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? How are things now? Sadly, nothing changed for the better during the pandemic. I was still just a kid and SRHR was a taboo topic for me and I was very uninformed. Luckily, after the pandemic, I started to realize that it’s totally normal and important to talk about sexual and reproductive health. Now I tend to help everyone who feels unsafe talking about it to realize that it is not taboo, as I used to think, and actually very important. I feel safe in my own body and I make sure I access education about SRHR as much as I need to. I make sure to take care of myself as regards to healthcare and I have been feeling a lot better, happier and safer since.   What was the biggest obstacle/challenge to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   My biggest challenge was overcoming the fact that SRHR is not seen as a normal topic to talk about and cover, especially for a 14 year old. Speaking to a professional, either a medical professional or my parents, would have helped a lot. I would have felt safer talking about the topic and would have realized from a young age that it is a totally normal topic to cover and is important for keeping myself healthy and happy.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? Listening. A lot of young people, including me, were afraid to open up. I lacked in-person communication and it has affected my SRHR education a lot. Personally, a heartfelt recommendation to professionals working with young people on this topic is to talk with them as much as they need to and as much as those young people feel the need to talk. I think it is very important for us to get heard and someone listening to our insecurities about talking over a specific topic would help youngsters open up and understand that it is not a taboo topic. COVID has made me realize that, if I have a question or a problem as regards to SRHR, I would want myself to be heard and for a professional to really listen to me and help me. I think it would help other young people a lot.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? Again, greater availability of professionals in health centres. It is very important for our voices and thoughts to be heard. It is a great way of helping us and making us understand that people really do listen to us and really do want to help us. It would help a lot, like it helped me.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator on SRHR? How has this experience been so far? I have been through a lot of things in life. I want to help people understand that it is okay if we all have our problems but I also want to help people lead their life in the right direction, overcoming those problems. I love helping people. I love seeing smiles on their faces after something that they thought might ruin their day and then overcoming it. It is the most beautiful thing ever. I want to educate people on various topics and help them understand that we, young people, are as much of a person as adults are. We have our own problems too. We also want to be heard. We also want to get educated on topics that are socially labelled as “inappropriate to youngsters”, but are as a matter of fact, just put that way by society and are totally normal to be addressed from teenage years. My experience as an educator has been wonderful. I had managed to help people open up, feel happier with themselves and in their bodies and realize that life is beautiful if you make it your own utopia. I love this hobby of mine and hope to continue it as long as I can.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of group of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"I have managed to help people feel happier with themselves and in their bodies."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Lana is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Lana, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID. In terms of overall SRHR education before and during COVID-19, I was very uneducated. At the beginning, I was 14 years old, so personally, I considered talking about SRHR topics very embarrassing and taboo. I was a kid and did not know that it is totally normal and important to talk about SRHR at that age. I live in a country where it is usually seen as “weird” to talk about SRHR, especially at my age at the time, so I felt like I shouldn’t participate in discussions on the topic. I was very uninformed and took minimal care of myself as regards SRHR, especially during COVID. It was a very hard time for everyone, and I was still finding myself, so it was really difficult for me to put priorities in the right place, especially with everything closed down; I had no access to any kind of SRHR education.   Did anything change for the better for you during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? How are things now? Sadly, nothing changed for the better during the pandemic. I was still just a kid and SRHR was a taboo topic for me and I was very uninformed. Luckily, after the pandemic, I started to realize that it’s totally normal and important to talk about sexual and reproductive health. Now I tend to help everyone who feels unsafe talking about it to realize that it is not taboo, as I used to think, and actually very important. I feel safe in my own body and I make sure I access education about SRHR as much as I need to. I make sure to take care of myself as regards to healthcare and I have been feeling a lot better, happier and safer since.   What was the biggest obstacle/challenge to your SRHR during the pandemic? How could decision-makers/medical professionals have removed this obstacle?   My biggest challenge was overcoming the fact that SRHR is not seen as a normal topic to talk about and cover, especially for a 14 year old. Speaking to a professional, either a medical professional or my parents, would have helped a lot. I would have felt safer talking about the topic and would have realized from a young age that it is a totally normal topic to cover and is important for keeping myself healthy and happy.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? Listening. A lot of young people, including me, were afraid to open up. I lacked in-person communication and it has affected my SRHR education a lot. Personally, a heartfelt recommendation to professionals working with young people on this topic is to talk with them as much as they need to and as much as those young people feel the need to talk. I think it is very important for us to get heard and someone listening to our insecurities about talking over a specific topic would help youngsters open up and understand that it is not a taboo topic. COVID has made me realize that, if I have a question or a problem as regards to SRHR, I would want myself to be heard and for a professional to really listen to me and help me. I think it would help other young people a lot.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? Again, greater availability of professionals in health centres. It is very important for our voices and thoughts to be heard. It is a great way of helping us and making us understand that people really do listen to us and really do want to help us. It would help a lot, like it helped me.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator on SRHR? How has this experience been so far? I have been through a lot of things in life. I want to help people understand that it is okay if we all have our problems but I also want to help people lead their life in the right direction, overcoming those problems. I love helping people. I love seeing smiles on their faces after something that they thought might ruin their day and then overcoming it. It is the most beautiful thing ever. I want to educate people on various topics and help them understand that we, young people, are as much of a person as adults are. We have our own problems too. We also want to be heard. We also want to get educated on topics that are socially labelled as “inappropriate to youngsters”, but are as a matter of fact, just put that way by society and are totally normal to be addressed from teenage years. My experience as an educator has been wonderful. I had managed to help people open up, feel happier with themselves and in their bodies and realize that life is beautiful if you make it your own utopia. I love this hobby of mine and hope to continue it as long as I can.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 13 October 2022

"It's so important in a crisis like COVID that nobody gets left behind."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Timur is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Timur, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID.  Before COVID, it was much easier to work on trainings and projects related to SRHR. Everything was done live and with the mutual interaction of participants and lecturers. Although we quickly adjusted during the pandemic, communication was difficult without live contact, but we successfully kept things going. As a peer educator and a young person, I had great access to information about SRHR. I knew who to turn to, but most other young people didn't. During COVID it was very difficult to find accurate information about SRHR.   Did anything change for the better during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? If so, has this continued since COVID is no longer an urgent crisis?  Yes, the pandemic has allowed us to get to know online tools better, and this enables us to process some topics in a much more interesting way. We have continued to use some methods we discovered in the first phase of COVID because we saw that they were easier but also better or more interesting for the participants themselves.    What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? The biggest challenge for peer educators was how to reach young people to provide information about SRHR. But even for me as a young person it was very difficult to find information and to reach professionals in health centres who deal with SRHR. The next challenge was that most of the NGOs in my vicinity closed their open centers and youth centers. Before the pandemic, young people could find all relevant information in these places. Now, most youth centres are open again, though some are working at reduced capacity.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think it's important that authorities and health professionals learn how important it is to have a ready response to crisis situations. And how important it is that in situations like this, they "leave no one behind". They should focus even more on health and ensure the availability of services for vulnerable groups. The next thing that governments and health professionals could learn is that online tools are very important and can be useful.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? I think it is important to introduce many more online platforms that offer answers to young people's questions. That way we have access to accurate information. It would make a difference because young people would use accurate information they got from qualified people via the internet, where they spend a lot of time today, and not the false information they find on portals, written by people who are not experts in these topics.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator and activist for SRHR? How has this experience been so far? It helped me to get more involved when I saw how much benefit and importance it has, both for me and for all those who participate. With small steps, we change the consciousness of society and educate people about topics that are present in their environment.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers  

YVYC illustration of young people
story

| 25 October 2022

"It's so important in a crisis like COVID that nobody gets left behind."

We spoke to young people from the Western Balkans about how their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights was affected by the COVID pandemic, and asked them about their vision for re-designing a more youth-friendly future in which young people can flourish.  Timur is a 17-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina who works as a volunteer peer educator, supporting other young people to develop crucial life skills relating to SRHR*.   Timur, describe your experience of access to SRHR education, information and care before and during COVID.  Before COVID, it was much easier to work on trainings and projects related to SRHR. Everything was done live and with the mutual interaction of participants and lecturers. Although we quickly adjusted during the pandemic, communication was difficult without live contact, but we successfully kept things going. As a peer educator and a young person, I had great access to information about SRHR. I knew who to turn to, but most other young people didn't. During COVID it was very difficult to find accurate information about SRHR.   Did anything change for the better during the pandemic in terms of access to SRHR? If so, has this continued since COVID is no longer an urgent crisis?  Yes, the pandemic has allowed us to get to know online tools better, and this enables us to process some topics in a much more interesting way. We have continued to use some methods we discovered in the first phase of COVID because we saw that they were easier but also better or more interesting for the participants themselves.    What was the biggest obstacle to your SRHR during the pandemic? The biggest challenge for peer educators was how to reach young people to provide information about SRHR. But even for me as a young person it was very difficult to find information and to reach professionals in health centres who deal with SRHR. The next challenge was that most of the NGOs in my vicinity closed their open centers and youth centers. Before the pandemic, young people could find all relevant information in these places. Now, most youth centres are open again, though some are working at reduced capacity.   What lessons should governments and professionals who work with youth learn from the pandemic about how to look after young people’s health and wellbeing in a crisis? I think it's important that authorities and health professionals learn how important it is to have a ready response to crisis situations. And how important it is that in situations like this, they "leave no one behind". They should focus even more on health and ensure the availability of services for vulnerable groups. The next thing that governments and health professionals could learn is that online tools are very important and can be useful.   What is your number 1 recommendation on what is needed to make services more youth-friendly? What difference would this make in the life of a young person like you? I think it is important to introduce many more online platforms that offer answers to young people's questions. That way we have access to accurate information. It would make a difference because young people would use accurate information they got from qualified people via the internet, where they spend a lot of time today, and not the false information they find on portals, written by people who are not experts in these topics.   What helped you to become engaged as a peer educator and activist for SRHR? How has this experience been so far? It helped me to get more involved when I saw how much benefit and importance it has, both for me and for all those who participate. With small steps, we change the consciousness of society and educate people about topics that are present in their environment.   * SRHR = sexual and reproductive health and rights Interview conducted by the Institute for Population and Development, IPPF's member in BiH, as part of the project  Youth Voices, Youth Choices, funded by MSD for Mothers