Adolescents and young people in rural areas in the Pacific have limited access to information, counselling and services on reproductive and sexual health.
This was revealed by United Nations Population Fund for Asia and Pacific (UNFPA) regional director, Nobuko Horibe during the regional symposium on population and development in the Pacific Islands being held at University of the South Pacific.
She said adolescent reproductive rights and sexuality remained culturally contested concepts in the Pacific.
"Cultural and religious sensitivities preclude wide access to and acceptance of barrier method the only realistic way to prevent HIV, other STIs and unwanted pregnancies," she said.
She said the prevalence of STIs was high especially among young people and HIV and AIDS had become epidemic in Papua New Guinea.
Ms Horibe said gender-based violence was persistent and pervasive in the Pacific and unacceptably high in countries where research had been conducted.
"Sex workers, mostly women are similarly rejected from communities and remain at high risk of HIV and STIs, in turn increasing risk for the broader Pacific communities from which sex workers' clients and partners come," she said.
Ms Horibe said there were major gaps in the knowledge base on population dynamics and processes in the Pacific.
"Much more research is required, for example, on the slow pace of fertility decline, population patterns in outer islands and the impact of emigration on the quality of life," she said.
She said UNFPA remained committed to ensuring that the rights of women and girls were realised.
"We will continue to support initiatives for addressing the high level of gender-based violence in the Pacific," she said.
