ICYO - Youth Information

September 2006 – VI

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News and views from Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.          

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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Illegal Termination of Pregnancy on the Rise in India  

More than 6.7 million abortions are reported in the country annually with 5.7 million of them being illegal terminations; mostly carried out in places that are unhygienic with unsafe technology Dr D Narayana Reddy, President of the Council for Sexual Education and Parenthood International (CSEPI) said.

On 16 September 2006, in his keynote address at the three-day 22nd National Conference of Sexology organized by the CSEPI, in Banglore, Dr Reddy said as pregnant women do not get hygienic antenatal care, the maternal mortality rate was of 498 per 100,000 women which was highest in India when compared to other countries.

He said due to termination of unplanned or unwanted pregnancies through unscientific means, the maternal morbidity and mortality were high in the country. Ignorance on part of the public with regard to health aspects and on the part of the policy makers and the healthcare fraternity with regard to sexual health were the root causes of all problems, he felt.

Dr Reddy said in India an estimated 5.2 million people were infected with HIV and out of which 124,366 have developed full blown AIDS . Nearly 85 per cent of the patients got the disease through sex route.

He said reproductive and sexual health entails not only the physical dimension of health but mental and social dimensions as well. Emotional dimension could be handled effectively if myths and misconceptions prevailing about gender issues and sexuality were cleared, he added.

Pointing out that the emotional health would come up only when abuse and harassment were minimized, if not completely eliminated. He urged the patriarchal system to take note of it.

Regretting that for long the medical fraternity ignored the importance of sexual health, he said that still the effort to prescribe sexology as a separate faculty in medical colleges had not succeeded. He said that the advent of HIV-AIDS in the early 1980s and the valuable discovery of 'Sildenifil' in the late 90's had shaken the medical fraternity out of snooze and started giving attention to it.

The volume of new research and newer findings in the area of sexual health were suddenly on an upswing and these advancements in modern medicare should be distributed equitably among the poor and then only the menace ofinfant mortality, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and sexually abusive behavior could be contained, Dr Reddy said. (The Hindu/16/9/06)

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Youth Information is published by: Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.