摘要：In the Andean region of Latin America over one million adolescent girls get pregnant every year. Adolescent pregnancy (AP) has been associated with adverse health and social outcomes, but it has also been favorably viewed as a pathway to adulthood. AP can also be conceptualized as a marker of inequity, since it disproportionately affects girls from the poorest households and those who have not been able to attend school. Using results from a study carried out in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador, this paper explores APs and adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health from a rights and gender approach. The paper points out the main features of a rights and gender approach, and how it can be applied to explore APs. Afterward it describes the methodologies (quantitative and qualitative) and main results of the study, framing the findings within the rights and gender approach. Finally, some implications that could be generalizable to global research on APs are highlighted. The application of the rights and gender framework to explore APs contributes to a more integral viewof the issue. The rights and gender framework stresses the importance of the interaction between rights-holders and duty-bearers on the realization of sexual and reproductive rights, and acknowledges the importance of gender - power relations on sexual and reproductive decisions. A rights and gender approach could lead to more integral and constructive interventions, and it could also be useful when exploring other sexual and reproductive health matters. Keywords: adolescent pregnancy; reproductive and sexual rights; gender relations; gender structures; agency (Published: 24 June 2010) Citation: Global Health Action 2010, 3: 5280 - DOI: 10.3402/gha.v3i0.5280 Access the supplementary material to this article: a PDF presenting the setting in Orellana province and the research process (see Supplementary files under Reading Tools online). This article has been commented on by Johanne Sundby. Please follow this link http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/5347/5723 - to read her Commentary.
关键词：adolescent pregnancy; reproductive and sexual rights; gender relations; gender structures; agency
