Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : August 13, 2021 11:42 AM IST
Many young people struggling to cope with loneliness and isolation of being confined to their homes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a severe toll on India's adolescents and young people. There is global evidence to suggest that adolescents of varying backgrounds have experienced higher than usual rates of anxiety, depression, and stress due to the pandemic, stemming from uncertainties about their family's economic security, stressful life events, extended home confinement, and the overuse of social media. On the occasion of International Youth Day, which is observed on 12 August every year, public health expert Poonam Muttreja highlighted the need to focus on overcoming the key barriers to young people's wellbeing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With some states poised to re-open schools and colleges in the coming weeks, it is critical that we address the challenges young people are facing and help them navigate through these extraordinary circumstances - said Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India. The NGO has been working in the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health through their policies for years.
To develop a well-nourished, healthy, skilled cohort of adolescents and young people, it is important to have access to high quality health services, education, and skills programmes.
Commenting on the need to bridge this gap, Muttreja said, "India must ensure a healthy young population by making efforts to improve access to adolescent-friendly healthcare facilities, gainful employment and nutrition. Efforts must be made to advance gender equality initiatives, which promote the value of the girl child. Most importantly, it is time that we include voices of young people in decision making and formulating youth appropriate policies and programmes."
The NGO quoted data from the first phase of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-20 to highlight the challenges faced by young people, especially girls, even before the pandemic. The survey revealed that anaemia among adolescent girls (15-19 years) has increased in fourteen out of seventeen states surveyed since 2015-16. It also reported an increase in child marriages in three states and an increase in teenage pregnancy in five states. The pre-existing inequity faced by girls has been exacerbated during the pandemic.
Given the disruptions in essential health services, including sexual and reproductive health services, adolescents today are more at risk of compromised health outcomes than ever before. Not only will this impact adolescents themselves but is also likely have a long-term impact on the growth and development of the nation, the NGO noted.
Apart from the loneliness and isolation of being confined to their homes that resulted from school/college closures and the loss of social and protective networks, many young people, especially girls, have been cut off completely from online learning due to a lack of digital access. The organisation is worried that in the long run, this can put their academic future and opportunities for building skills and securing gainful employment at risk.
Adolescents from vulnerable communities are particularly at risk with their families being pushed into poverty due to the pandemic. In addition to dropping out of school, the pandemic threatens to push adolescent girls into early and forced marriages, teenage pregnancies and instances of gender-based violence, which may otherwise have been averted, it stated.
Adolescents and young people constitute 30% (365 million) of India's total population. This means India's demographic dividend the economic advantage of a large working-age population is enormous. However, Muttreja believes that this advantage can be truly leveraged if adequate investments are made in meeting the needs of young people who are the building blocks of a nation's human capital and its future workforce.
She wants key stakeholders to join the movement to safeguard adolescent health and well-being in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Muttreja added, "A call to action by the Prime Minister will provide a real impetus for a movement that has the potential to fulfil the aspirations of India's 365 million adolescents and young people."
