Study Overview

In Bangladesh, adolescents, ages 10-19 years constitute over one-fifth of the total population. This large cohort of adolescents have special health needs, particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). However, SRH being a taboo topic in Bangladesh, is inadequately addressed by schools and families, leading to unmet SRH needs and adverse SRH outcomes among adolescents. The Government of Bangladesh has identified adolescents as a priority target group in its current Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Program (HPNSP) 2017-2022. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has developed the National Strategy for Adolescent Health 2017-2030, where sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is one of the four strategic health areas. Understanding the prevalence and temporal pattern of a breadth of adolescents' SRH-related indicators will aid in the development of culturally adaptable interventions, appropriate investment, and improved healthcare services for adolescents. This will eventually help to develop a healthy labour force and achieve a demographic dividend. We propose to conduct a community-based observational prospective cohort study, using an existing demographic surveillance system of icddr,b situated in Baliakandi upazilla of Razbari district. The study will enrol 2500 unmarried male and female adolescents and will follow them for 24 months. To take into account the age, temporal and gender effects on adolescent knowledge, attitude and behaviours, we will include male and female adolescents, from three different age groups – 12 years, 14 years and 16 years. For females, we will have three age cohorts (12, 14 and 16 years), whereas for males we will have two age cohorts (14 and 16 years). In each age cohort, we will have 500 samples giving a total of 2500 samples. Data will be collected every fourmonths (yearly in some cases) to document the SRH disease burden, and knowledge, attitude and practice on selected SRHR indicators and their changes over time.