"When it comes to productivity, as the United Nations Population Fund said, in Indonesia, adolescents are the determining factor," BKKBN head Hasto Wardoyo said after the launch of the Family Planning 2030 program here on Monday.
Indonesia's success in guiding adolescents to become a productive generation with knowledge of reproductive health could help create a quality population, he added.
Healthy adolescents with knowledge of reproductive health will understand that marriage before 19 years of age can be fatal for prospective mothers because their bodies are not yet capable of handling a pregnancy or due to the high risk of anemia.
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If adolescents’ health is ensured well before marriage, the birth of stunted children and deaths among adolescents linked to depression over not being ready for parenthood can be prevented.
In addition, if adolescents grow healthily, the productivity of society in building the country could increase. It could also reduce the burden on the state in terms of providing assistance to unproductive citizens such as the elderly when they enter old age.
"If these adolescents are successful, do not marry early, do not drop out of school, do not get pregnant often, and their children are not too many, they will be confident later in their old age," he said.
The BKKBN head emphasized that every citizen in Indonesia, especially young people who are the key to development, must make plans if they want to build a family.
Since, through planning, all families in Indonesia can prevent unwanted pregnancies, which have a high potential for maternal death, and support the country in attaining the demographic dividend.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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