Before it's too late

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994, determined that the reproductive health needs of adolescents were largely ignored by extant reproductive health services, and issued a call to address the needs of this group. In response to the global call, various agencies and partners set out to create educational and assistance programs that would result in the improvement of adolescent reproductive health in the Pacific region. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Foundation (UNF) provided support to create a regional Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) Project, which addresses adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in the Pacific region. UNFPA determined that it is at this critical juncture in young people's lives that attitudes, beliefs and values regarding sexuality and reproduction are forged, determining lifelong behavior patterns and outlooks.