This is an extended version of the eight categories of the Basic Human Dignity Needs Holistic Index, with over 600 sub-categories.
Basic Human Dignity Needs include:
HOLISTIC INDEX
HEALTH - FAMILY - Teen Problems
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From: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/10/08/un.report/index.html
U.N. youth report a 'wake-up call'
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 Posted: 8:43 AM EDT (1243 GMT)
(CNN) -- Poverty, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS among adolescents are a threat to development and must be addressed as part of the war on poverty, according to the U.N.
The State of the World report released Wednesday said a fifth of the world's population was between the ages of 10 and 19 so it was important for societies to invest in programs that fight these trends.
"This report is a wake-up call," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, which prepared the report, entitled "Making 1 Billion Count: Investing in Adolescents' Health and Rights."
"It is a wake-up call to listen to young people and acknowledge their needs. It is a wake-up call to increase funding and expand information and services to young people. It is a wake-up call to support them so that they can lead healthy, productive and dignified lives," she said.
Defined as people between the ages of 10 and 19, adolescents, more than 1.2 billion of the world's population, must be "given skills, opportunities and a real say in development plans," the report said.
The report said half of them were poor and 25 percent live in "extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day."
About 82 million girls between 10 and 17 will marry, a development that disrupts their education. About 14 million teens, married and unmarried give birth each year, with many of them getting unsafe abortions and getting pregancy-related illnesses.
It said "half of new HIV infections and at least a third of more than 333 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections each year occur in people aged 15 to 24."
"Millions of girls in poor countries still get married and give birth in their teens, interrupting their education and endangering their health. For many other girls and boys, the trend is toward later marriage but greater exposure to the risks of unprotected sexual activity.
"All, whether rich or poor, married or not, urban or rural, in school or out, have a right to information and services to safeguard their sexual and reproductive health. Girls and young women need better protection against discrimination, coercion and gender-based violence."
The report said that around the world "innovative programs are teaching adolescents about reproductive health and showing how relevant health services can be made more "youth-friendly" to increase their use." It said laws and policies were being developed "to give greater attention to adolescents' needs and rights."
Not pursuing such programs to help adolescents "will perpetuate poverty, inequality, unsustainable population growth and HIV/AIDS."
Selling sex
Obaid said there was "clear evidence from Africa, Asia and Latin America that well-designed informaton and education programs do lead to safer, healthier behavior."
"Actions to ensure these human rights can have tremendous practical benefits, empowering individuals, promoting gender equality, stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic, reinforcing an uneven global trend towards smaller families, reducing poverty and improving prospects for economic progress."
The report said investments in health and education would help countries in the long run.
"For instance, seven Caribbean region countries would save around $235 on average each year in direct and economic costs for each adolescent birth delayed.
"The return on preventing more HIV infection among young people is even higher, in terms of avoiding the costs of arrested development, lost agricultrual output, excess training to provide for personnel losses, health facility overloads, treatment (where available) and care, among other factors.
"The econmic benefit of a single averted HIV/AIDS infection is estimated at $34,600 for a poor country with annual per capital earnings of $1,000."
HIV/AIDS is spreading fastest, the report said, among youths in sub-Saharan Africa, where about 8.6 million youths are infected -- 62 percent of them female. South Asia follows, with 1.1 million youths infected -- 62 percent of them female.
The report said poverty was a factor in the spread of HIV because some poor girls sell sex for money for school fees or to help their families.
Talking about sex is taboo in many countries so many young people do not know enough about the virus that causes AIDS to protect themselves. In Somalia, for example, only 26 percent of adolescent girls had heard of it and just one percent knew how to protect themselves.
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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