Necessity of Providing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services to Adolescents and Young People in Iran: A Narrative Review

Background: Youths and adolescents are considered as valuable assets of any society. The preservation and promotion of health in this population is an issue of significant importance from the social and economic dimensions. Globalization has resulted in the emergence of several health risks for this age set. Sexual curiosity and sexual experiences are some of these dangers, which can cause irreparable damages if neglected. Regarding this, the present narrative review was conducted to identify the guidelines from different parts of the world for the preservation and promotion of sexual and fertility health among the Iranian adolescents and youths. The integration of these strategies can provide appropriate solutions conforming to the Iranian culture. Methods: This narrative review was conducted on the articles and sources published within 1958-2015. The search was performed using the valid international databases, including Pubmed, Google Scholar, Google, WHO, ProQuest, and the Persian databases, such as Iranmedex and SID. In addition, we performed library research to obtain the papers investigating the issue of interest. The keywords used during the searching process entailed: “Reproduction Health”, “Youth”, “Adolescents”, and “Sexual Health”. In this review, out of 85 evaluated sources, 53 articles, books, thesis, and websites were selected.  Results: As the reviewed studies indicated, the lack of knowledge, an unclear horizon of the future, and inaccessibility to reproductive health services threaten the health of the youths and adolescents. Therefore, the provision of sex education by parents, schools, or peers can have a significant impact on the promotion of sexual health in this population. Moreover, screening and identifying the adolescents and youths at risk and educating the necessary skills to this age set can prevent the occurrence of high-risk sexual behaviors. Similar to other countries but with a lower prevalence rate, there are some problems in sexual and fertility health of the youths and adolescents in Iran. Therefore, it is recommended to teach the sexual health promotion techniques to this population according to their religion and culture.