UN Millennium Development Goal 5:
• Improve maternal health
• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
• Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

UN Millennium Development Goal 6:
• Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases
• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

Adolescence ushers in a new set of health challenges for young people, given their emergent sexuality, reproductive capacity, and increased vulnerability to a range of health risks and social and family pressures. As they navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescents often must shoulder adult responsibilities and grapple with adult decisions, yet many lack access to the comprehensive information and services—as well as the social safety nets—that would allow them to reach adulthood in good health.

Adolescence is also a time when behaviors are often set for life, and when the consequences of risks taken can be life-changing: up to 70 percent of all preventable deaths globally result from health-related patterns and behaviors that began during adolescence.1 In addition, half of all new HIV infections occur among young people between 15 and 24 years of age, with young women facing infection rates 1.6 times higher than young men.2
During this critical stage of their lives, young people can most benefit from comprehensive health education, positive role models, strong social support networks, and access to respectful, youth-friendly health services. In addition to our health-specific grantmaking, EMpower supports strategies across our portfolios that build young people’s capacity to make positive, informed decisions about their bodies during their adolescence and throughout their lives. Grants to provide education, leadership and employment opportunities help create assets; build self-esteem; foster parent-child communication; strengthen relationships with teachers, health providers, and other adults; expose young people to positive values; and engender a stronger sense of purpose, direction, and self-worth. Beyond expanding young people’s immediate options, such investments yield ongoing returns, as they lay the foundation for healthy adulthood.

1. 1. “Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health: Charting Directions for A Second Generation of Programming”, UNFPA report.
2. 2. http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_youth.htm