Age Appropriate Sexuality Education for Youth Key to National Progress

A community health volunteer informs community members about various methods of family planning. Photo Credit: UNFPA KenyaBy Dr. Josephine Kibaru-Mbae and Siddharth ChatterjeeNAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 2018 (IPS)Fifty years ago at the International Conference on Human Rights, family planning was affirmed to be a human right. It is therefore apt that the theme for this year’s World Population Day is a loud reminder of this fundamental right. It is a right that communities especially in Africa have for long held from its youth, with parents shying off from the subject and policymakers largely equivocal. The result is that the continent has the highest numbers of teenagers joining the ranks of parenthood through unintended pregnancies.The statistics are disquieting: as per the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS 2014), one in every five adolescent girls has either had a live birth, or is pregnant with her first child. Among the 19-year olds, this doubles to two out of ten. In a recent study, six out of ten girls surveyed in two Nairobi slums reported having had an unintended pregnancy.Among sexually active unmarried adolescents, only about half use any form of contraceptives, yet only one in three women and one in four men, per the same study, knew the correct timing regarding when a woman is likely to get pregnant.The World Population Day should awaken us all to the critical role of those in authority in ensuring children grow up not only in an atmosphere of love and unders...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Conferences Crime & Justice Development & Aid Education Featured Gender Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Labour Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Source Type: news