POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND HEALTHY LIFESTYLE PROMOTED AMONG YOUTH
APositive Attitude – Healthy Student campaign has been launched for the second year to promote healthy lifestyles among young people in Mongolia.
The campaign is being carried out by the Ulaanbaatar Youth Development Agency, Family, Child and Youth Development Agency, Mongolian Youth Federation, Y-PEER Youth Peer Education Network, Adolescent and Youth-Friendly Clinics, and local youth development centers with support from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.
According to the National Statistics Office, 34.6 percent of the Mongolian population are young people between the ages of 18 and 30 in 2016. Another study shows that one in every three young people regularly consume alcoholic beverages, smoke, or have obesity problems, while 75 percent of convicts and 41.2 percent of AIDS/HIV patients are people aged between 18 and 30.
The campaign organizers stated that young people make up 57.2 percent of all victims of domestic violence, 50 percent of victims of all types of crimes, and 57.3 percent of deaths by accident or external influence. Hence, they’re urging youth to have a positive outlook on life and take measures to prevent bad habits through the campaign
“Based on various statistics related to young people, the youth need to change their attitudes. Strictly speaking, young people these are playing house. They need information about family planning and reproductive health education. Yet, they have no means to get these information. Hence, we can’t point fingers at them straightaway,” said O.Altansukh, the Head of the Family, Child and Youth Development Agency.
He noted that the agency is focusing on controlling and stopping bad habits among young people this year as there have been reports about an increase in drug usage along with high rate of alcoholic beverage consumption and smoking among people of the said age group.
“We must advise them to pay more attention to their health and change their attitude. Especially in recent years, obesity has increased among young people. Obesity becomes the root of many diseases. We’re launching this campaign to address such issues and provide a wide-range of information to young people,” O.Altansukh announced.
Through the Positive Attitude – Healthy Student campaign, a workshop was held on Tuesday for students studying at Otgontenger University to raise awareness about bad habits, negative social trends, and reproductive health education.
A freshman studying psychology at the university commented, “I’ve been smoking for two years. I know that I need to stop smoking but I haven’t been able to. I’m sure that I can do it if I resolve myself to do it.”
A senior student studying international trade said that he smokes and drinks only during celebrations. He said that he will try to quit smoking and encouraged other young smokers to do the same.