A boy answers a teacher's question at a summer camp event on caring for adolescent health, held in the CQHCWC in Chongqing on Aug 27. [Photo/cqnews.net]

The Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children (CQHCWC) -- in Southwest China's Chongqing -- held its second summer camp on caring for adolescent health on Aug 27, attracting the participation of 32 local teenagers.

The event is one of the youth health and development project activities initiated by the National Health Commission's Department of Maternal and Child Health and UNICEF.

The goal is to expand children's knowledge of health and cultivate a spirit of teamwork and sound life values through insightful lectures, group counseling, practical sessions, class exercises and training in psychological, nutritional and reproductive health.

During the activity, 32 adolescents under the guidance of CQHCWC doctors learned how to cherish life. They also learned about how to choose a healthy lifestyle, good eating and exercise habits, how to sympathize with others, keep their emotions in balance and other related subjects.

Zhang Haiyan, director of the Women's Health Department at CQHCWC, said young people aged from 11 to  14 were still in the early stages of forming values and their outlook on life -- and their self-protection awareness was not developed, while their ability to accept new things was very high.

Zhang said parents and society at this stage should provide young people with education about reproductive health, among other things, to help them lay a solid foundation of values.

She suggested that parents should teach their babies to be aware of their reproductive organs at the same time when they teach them about their eyes, nose and other organs.

Zhang said that at that stage of life, children would feel no sense of shame -- while it was a little late to re-educate them by the time they reached junior and middle school.

She said that if they were not guided in a timely fashion at the right stage of their lives, it could lead to negative effects later.