HEALTH-ASIA: Sex Education Can Be Creative, Say Experts

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sutthida Malikaew

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 2005 (IPS) - Many Asian countries now have sexual health education in schools, but teachers often focus on health and biology and leave out the very issue they need to address – sexuality, said experts at a regional conference here, this week.

Teachers are wary of talking about sex with young people because they are uncomfortable with the subject or fear encouraging- or being seen as encouraging- youngsters to have sex at an early age, says Hathairat Suda, senior programme assistant with the Bangkok- based Programme for Appropriate Technology on Health (PATH).

“(But) If you wait to talk about sex with your children it might be too late, since your children might be already at risk of reproductive health and sexual health problems,” Hathairat said at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health, that ended Sunday.

Early education on reproductive and sexual health – especially during adolescence- was widely discussed here, given that young people in Asia are having their first sexual experiences earlier than ever and information is needed to protect them from risky behaviour.

However, in many Asian societies, sex is taboo for public discussion, due to social, cultural and religious factors.

Yet, groups are trying innovative ways of getting across messages on reproductive health. In Malaysia, there are television shows promoted by Marina Mahathir, daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, in the Philippines there is the use of theatre and in Indonesia there is lobbying by progressive religious groups.

It is about creativity and pragmatism. Indonesia’s Jery Lohy says the programme he is involved with conveys sensitive information about safe sex to Christian youngsters but “we can’t say the word ‘sexual’, we just say biological or reproductive health.”

In Sri Lanka, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is trying out a pilot project on teaching sex education to children from the first grade and building on these sex-education messages in an appropriate fashion for each grade level, thereafter.

“We start with health issues like cleanliness for grade one and then add more messages in the upper grades and finally talk about safer sex,” said Asela Ramjet Kakugampitiya, UNFPA’s monitoring and evaluation officer. “However, we are not sure whether we can talk directly about safe sex. Sex education is a controversial issue in our country (Sri Lanka)too.”

When a candid teen manual on sexuality was published a few years ago in Thailand, it drew the wrath of conservatives, from academics to policymakers, who said it promoted promiscuity and wrong values.

The furore showed that while it has become an option for some schools to teach sex education, its implementation has not always been carried out successfully. Sex education classes in Thailand emphasise anatomy and biology topics.

In Vietnam, sex education is part of biology class for high school students and starting from sixth grade, students learn about body parts and the reproductive system.

In Laos, there are no direct lessons on sex education but biology classes in high school do discuss body parts and the reproductive system. In Burma, there are no lessons about sex education at all.

While local beliefs and culture can be a barrier to intervention on safer sex, statistics cited during the conference suggest a need for better information on reproductive and sexual health at a young age.

One million women have died in eight Asian countries from unsafe abortion, pregnancy or childbirth, according to a just- released report on progress on the reproductive and sexual health goals since the 1994, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo.

Millions more have suffered due to unsafe abortion and childbirth and lack of access to quality health services, added the study by the Kuala Lumpur-based Asia-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), covering Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The failure of sex education is one of the causes of unsafe abortion and other problems, says Rashidah Abdullah, co-founder of ARROW and a member of its board of directors.

People need to understand that sex education is not only about sexual intercourse and safer sex, but also about life and reproductive health, campaigners stressed.

Haithairat listed six factors in sex education: discussion of organs involved, relationships with partners and other people, communication skills, understanding of the socio-cultural context, acceptance of the diversity of human behaviour and sexual orientation and prevention and health care.

“All points should come together. If you know how your body works and how you can protect yourself from disease but you don’t know the level of your relationships and don’t know how to communicate with your partner for safer sex, it is not useful at all,” Haithairat added.