Research on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Beliefs and Traditions Among Afghan Refugees.

Research on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Beliefs and Traditions Among Afghan Refugees, Davood Ghatrifi, Rouhollah Ghatrifi, Shahrzad Eivazkhani, and Maryam Ghatrifi, International Research Development Pars Institute, Iran

Becoming a refugee causes great anxiety and stress and also leads to deprivation of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services. In our last programs, such as holding educational courses on SRHR and offering SRHR services, we were confronted with many difficulties, such as conflict in beliefs and values of the Afghan society. In this project, we studied SRHR habits, beliefs, and traditions and their roots among Afghan refugees. Then we prepared an intervention program. This research was a qualitative-descriptive-participatory project. First, 180 questionnaires were completed by Afghan participants in six areas of Iran. The level of literacy of these people was at Diploma. We ran statistics on eight components of SRHR issues: Adolescent health for girls, Adolescent health for boys, Pre-marriage counseling, Family planning, Pre-natal and Post-natal care, Common cancers, and Menopause. We found that refugees lacked information on SRHR issues and there was a high prevalence of wrong beliefs rooted in some traditions and customs. Also, there was no desire among adults to pass on information to adolescents. Other findings included a low awareness about HIV/AIDS; most of the young people, especially girls, didn't have right of making a decision for marriage; a high prevalence of familial and ethnical marriage; a high prevalence of marriage among minors; non-observance of basic health, such as taking a bath in menstrual period; no valuing of prenatal care; high prevalence of the pregnancy under 18 years old; paying no attention to hygienic, nutritional, and psychological status in pregnant women; large families and a lack of belief in contraception; belief that people should not interfere with God's work and thus should not practice family planning; and belief that menopause is equal to the end of life for women. The most important roots of sexual and reproductive health problems were cultural issues and lack of information, and the best strategy direction for improving SRHR and developing community are community-based projects that empower people to think, design, and act.