According to United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) nearly half of all people in the world are under the age of 25 and 1.2 billion are between the ages of 10 and 19. This makes this the largest generation of adolescents in history. The options and opportunities they have to regulate their fertility, avoid unwanted pregnancies, and plan families will determine, to a large extent, the future demographic profile of the planet. Youth represents a large bulk of Pakistan population and is estimated at 34.12 million individuals between the ages of 15 and 24.

According to the ICPD, POA, Para 7.4.1 "By 2015, the response of societies to the reproductive health needs of adolescents should be based on information that helps them attain a level of maturity required to make responsible decisions. In particular, information and services should be made available to adolescents to help them understand their sexuality and protect them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS and the risk of infertility. This should be combined with the education of young men to respect women's self-determination and to share responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and reproduction. This effort is uniquely important for the health of young women and their children and, in many countries, for efforts aimed at reducing the momentum of population growth."

With an increased awareness of the importance of reproductive and sexual health in the lives of people as well as its close and undeniable link with population growth, a number of initiatives have incorporated work with the youth in their mainstream population programs. For the reasons mentioned above, youth is now being targeted as a key group in many of these interventions. It is also a good time to bring about attitudinal change: a change geared towards acceptance of one's self and one's reproductive and sexual identity, leading to adoption of healthier choices with reduced disease, violence, and population growth. This greater propensity to change, the sheer number of the target group, and the fact that they stand at the brink of their active reproductive cycle, clearly make the youth an important group to focus on.

Rozan's experience of working with young people in Pakistan reinforces the global experience that counseling can play a key role in bringing about long-term attitudinal change. Counseling provides an opportunity for young people to access information and reflect on the choices they face. However, it is important that the counseling be provided in a non-judgmental, non-threatening, and confidential environment so that the youth can understand their sexuality and protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies, STIs, sexual violence, etc. This is particularly true of Pakistan, where services for the youth are rare, and the youth themselves are at a critical juncture in their lives in which they have only (mis)information from quacks, untrained self styled counselors, traditional healers, and myths to inform them of their reproductive health. This is especially problematic in a country like Pakistan in which society is highly moralistic and talking of reproductive health, sexual needs, or sexual problems is taboo.