ny young people receive a range of scientifically incorrect, conflicting and confusing messages about reproductive health, sexuality and gender on a daily basis. This can lead to serious risks for their health, well-being and dignity. Age appropriate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) gives young people the tools they need to have healthy lives and relationships. It helps them navigate life-changing decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. It provides crucial information about their bodies and their rights. CSE teaches them the life skills they need to protect and empower themselves.

In many places, adolescent girls and young women not only lack access to the education that is so fundamental to their health; they lack agency and autonomy over their own bodies.

The statistics speak for themselves:

• Around 120 million girls worldwide (more than 10%) have experienced forced sexual acts or other forms of intimate partner violence at some point in their lives.
  
   
• Approximately 20 percent of women, and between 5 and 10 percent of men, report having been victims of sexual violence as children.
  
   
• Child, early and forced marriage violates girls’ fundamental human rights. Yet, nearly 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday.
  
   
• Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-old girls worldwide.
  
   
• The world wants to end HIV, yet the rates are going up, particularly among adolescent girls and young women, since young people do not have the information they need to keep themselves safe.
  
   
• Each year an estimated 333 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections occur worldwide, with the highest rates among 20-24 year olds, followed by 15-19 year olds.

(Statistics source: UNFPA)

FPA Sri Lanka, through their Service Delivery Point’s carried out CSE programmes at the following locations in the month of October 2018. (Under the Global Gag Rule, Emergency Fund Project)

Vocational Training Center (VTA ) Thalalla, Matara from the 10th -12th of October 2018 .

Jamiyathul Falah Arabic College, Kattankudy from the 11th - 13th October, 2018.

Vocational training centre in Hikkaduwa from the 17th-19th of October 2018.

Maha Manthinna Pirivena in Matara from the 17th-19th of October 2018