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Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in El SalvadorThe aim of the study is to understand
 the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behavior and
 determinants among adolescents in El Salvador using data
 from a survey of 1,258 adolescents’ aged 10-19 and 12
 interviews with representatives from the Ministry of Health
 (MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE), nongovernmental
 organizations (NGOs), and United Nation (UN) agencies. The
 study found that adolescents were not educated enough on
 their sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), and have
 limited use of and access to contraceptives. Alcohol and
 violence were found to be associated with risky sexual
 behavior, requiring a multisectoral response from the
 government and civil society. Adolescents need to receive
 earlier and more accurate information on their SRHR; and
 this information should be disseminated in a way that
 empowers adolescents to make responsible decisions about
 their sexual reproductive health. The MOE can play a vital
 role in informing adolescents in this area, and adjust these
 programs when necessary. Further, the role of parents is
 critical, as the study found that adolescents are not
 receiving adequate and enough SRHR information from their
 parents. In addition, the MOH needs to offer
 adolescent-friendly health services, which includes trained
 health personnel. Although adolescents stated that the
 maternal and child health programs offered were satisfactory
 and the government has made an effort at educating
 adolescents on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and
 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), both the
 promotion of contraceptive methods and monitoring adolescent
 SRHR remain as key challenges to be addressed by
 multisectoral interventions.
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Age at First Child Does Education Delay Fertility Timing? The Case of KenyaCompleting additional years of education
 necessarily entails spending more time in school. There is
 naturally a rather mechanical effect of schooling on
 fertility if women tend not to have children while
 continuing to attend high school or college, thus delaying
 the beginning of and shortening their reproductive life.
 This paper uses data from the Kenyan Demographic and Health
 Surveys of 1989, 1993, 1998, and 2003 to uncover the impact
 of staying one more year in school on teenage fertility. To
 get around the endogeneity issue between schooling and
 fertility preferences, the analysis uses the 1985 Kenyan
 education reform as an instrument for years of education.
 The authors find that adding one more year of education
 decreases by at least 10 percentage points the probability
 of giving birth when still a teenager. The probability of
 having one's first child before age 20, when having at
 least completed primary education, is about 65 percent;
 therefore, for this means a reduction of about 15 percent in
 teenage fertility rates for this group. One additional year
 of school curbs the probability of becoming a mother each
 year by 7.3 percent for women who have completed at least
 primary education, and 5.6 percent for women with at least a
 secondary degree. These results (robust to a wide array of
 specifications) are of crucial interest to policy and
 decision makers who set up health and educational policies.
 This paper shows that investing in education can have
 positive spillovers on health.
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Teenage Pregnancy and Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean : On Teenage Fertility Decisions, Poverty and Economic AchievementThe pregnancy project sought to expose
 the existence, and challenge the validity, of stereotypes
 about Hispanic women. The charade explored the underlying
 motivations of the many who responded with a wide range of
 reactions. The specific objectives of this regional study
 are: to establish a thorough description of the magnitude of
 the issue and its potential implications for social
 advancement; to advance the understanding of the risk
 factors, motivations and impacts at the household level-as a
 determinant of poverty and a cause of intra-and
 intergenerational poverty traps; to illuminate the coping
 mechanisms and their individual and social implications; to
 highlight the gender-related issues that have historically
 provoked asymmetric costs to boys and girls; and to provide
 elements that support specific policies on this matter. In
 the last decade, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have
 been moving in the right direction and the region has
 experienced important gains in gender equality of endowments
 (assets) and economic opportunities. In most LAC countries,
 girls have been achieving gender parity in primary school
 enrollment and even outperforming boys at the secondary and
 tertiary level. The present report reviews the factors
 associated with teenage pregnancy and early childbearing and
 builds a framework to explore these issues systematically,
 towards the design of effective policy interventions in LAC.
 Teen pregnancy and early childbearing remain a challenge in
 the region, particularly given the association of these
 phenomena with poverty and lack of opportunities, and the
 concern that it may prevent women from taking full advantage
 of their human development assets and opportunities. The
 main message of the report is that poverty and lack of
 opportunities are key factors associated to early childbearing.