Having the largest youth population in the world, China has incorporated sexual and reproduction knowledge into the formal school curriculum to facilitate their healthy growth, said Population and Development Country Report published Tuesday.

During the past decade, the overall health of about 323 millionyoung people aged 10 to 24 has been improving steadily, however, said the report, they have experienced an earlier age of sexual and psychological maturity, and young people are now more open toward sex and their sexual ethics are changing, at the same time, premarital pregnancies and induced abortions among the young people have been increasing.

With the HIV/AIDS epidemic spreading from high-risk population to the general population, Chinese youth are facing more and more great potential danger. In this report, the number of children andadolescents HIV-infected patients under 19 years old has already reached approximately 7.4 percent.

To cope with this situation, the Chinese government, relying onthe principles of "care, understanding, respect and support", has made sustained efforts to improve adolescents' sexual and reproductive health by formulating a series of laws and regulations as well as policies and programs such as the Program for the Development of Chinese Children (2001-2010) and the Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-2010).

Meanwhile, the report also pointed out many existing problems on adolescents' sexual and reproductive health, including the absence of consistent information about the national situation, effective advocacy, education and service system need to be further developed.

Relevant policies and regulations are not well implemented, theexisting education and service system are not apply to youths fromunderdeveloped regions and migrants.

The report believes, China should promote widely the implement of the Program for the Development of Chinese Children (2001-2012),create a national health education network, and by 2010, the network is expected to cover all urban areas and 80 percent of therural areas.

Source: Xinhua