IN A country where "nuff gal" is evidence of both personal and national progress, perhaps we ought not to be unduly shocked by the findings of a recent survey by the University of the West Indies medical students on the sexual behaviour of our children. We remind readers that childhood, by United Nations' definition, extends to age 18 years.
The findings of the researchers, disturbing as they are, are really not new but are closely similar to the results of a National Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviour and Practice survey carried out by the Ministry of Health three years ago. The average age of first sex is 14. The legal age of consent is 16.
Boys, the survey of 14- to 18-year-olds in 13 high schools across three parishes has found, have an average of four sexual partners with a high of 20 reported. The separation of fact and fiction may be blurred here, or perhaps the high scorers do nothing else during their high school years.
The early initiation and promiscuous behaviour of children is one thing. But the widespread failure to apply knowledge of safer sex for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections sets off alarm bells. HIV/AIDS is already a public health crisis with the Caribbean bearing the second highest rate of infection outside of devastated Africa. Over 70 per cent of children in the survey acknowledged that they had knowledge of reproduction, STIs, HIV/AIDS and contraception, and up to 90 per cent identified the condom as a means of protection.
Knowledge is not the problem. As the Behaviour Change specialist in the Health Ministry sums up the problem: Teenagers, like adults are not internalising prevention messages and they often do see themselves at risk for infection. Linked to a reckless, daredevil attitude about everything, including risky sexual behaviour, is a major national condomphobia. Men (and boys) must "ride" bareback and women (and girls) are too cowed, or too loving, to say no to sex and no to no condom.
On top of school violence and poor performance of the academic kind, the youth population of 15 to 25 accounts for the lion's share of the plague of crime and violence that is upon us and are most affected by HIV/AIDS, all with enormous social and economic consequences for the whole society.
Let us call a spade a spade (there are many more AIDS graves to dig), the society has long faced a crisis of irresponsible sexual behaviour which extends to even very young children. But the HIV/AIDS epidemic has seriously compounded that fact of history. Convincing people to go from knowledge to practice is the most critical challenge, and not even the 100 per cent certainty of death once AIDS is developed seem, at this stage, to be helping much.
The greatest ingenuity of behaviour change agents, including cultural, political, educational and religious leaders, is now urgently required.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
