Moshurova L.V., Gurkina D.A., Arapova D.V., Savelyeva Y.E., Ivanova A.A.Reproductive health of modern schoolchildren: the problem of awareness and the need for education.

Introduction. Modern society over the last decades has been facing the problem of de-clining birth rate, directly related to the deterioration of reproductive health of young people. In this regard, adolescence should be considered a significant period of formation of values of a healthy lifestyle, knowledge directly affecting reproductive health in the future and the prin-ciples of the family institution lost at the present stage [3,4]. Objective.To study the level of adolescents' awareness of reproductive health and the need for reproductive health education. Materials and Methods. Our study is an anonymous questionnaire survey of 150 schoolchildren in Voronezh at the age of 12 to 17 years (79 boys and 71 girls), the sample is random. Results. Analysis of the obtained data revealed insufficient awareness of schoolchildren about reproductive health. Despite the presence of basic knowledge about health, a significant number of adolescents cannot give clear answers to questions about basic concepts and com-ponents of female and male health. An alarming fact among girls is the lack of information and lack of motivation for new knowledge about menses, and among boys - a low level of aware-ness of the consequences of bad habits. Conclusions. Adolescent schoolchildren do not have a sufficient level of knowledge about reproductive health, which necessitates educational activities to inform and raise aware-ness in this area, which will affect their health and well-being in the future.