Adolescent Sexual Development and Sexually Transmittted Infections

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections are those that are contracted solely through sexual intercourse with an infected partner or person. This group of infections includes syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes simplex, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and hepatitis B infections. Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is one of the most common diseases affecting about one million persons daily worldwide. This makes its annual incidence fourth to diarrheal diseases, malaria and lower respiratory tract infection in which adolescents have the highest rates recorded. This higher rate may be a reflection of some loop holes in the accessibility and quality of STI services made available to adolescents. It may also include lack of/inadequate fund, discomfort with facilities and care providers, concerns about confidentiality, lack of youth friendly services to mention but a few. This will result in untreated or poorly treated STIs which have a lot of associated complications ranging from epididymitis to infertility in males, dyspareunia to abortions, stillbirths, perinatal and neonatal deaths in females resulting into poor and/or unhealthy future reproductive health lives. Unsafe/ unprotected sexual activity in adolescents is not only complicated by STIs, others include early motherhood, school dropout, complications of unsafe abortions and pregnancy in females and the psychological and health complications in both sexes. Although, intervention efforts targeting individual effort associated with STIs prevention and treatment have been implemented in the time past but these interventions do not still address important factors such as peer norms and media influences which may be due to the fact that adolescent sexual and reproductive health have been neglected for some time now. But if a healthy future is anticipated, sex education, contraception and STI services for adolescents needs to be addressed as the age of sexual maturity and that at which sexual relations become legitimate has widened.