‘Help children prepare for responsible adult sexual life’
Participants in a Youth Health Advocacy assembly have appealed to parents and the elderly to educate children on sex to help them prepare to be sexually responsible in their adult lives.
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They observed that the gap in comprehensive sexual education and reproductive health service provision, including access to contraceptives to young people within the school and community settings, needed to be closed.
At a mock assembly sitting to discuss development and health issues affecting the youth at Abakrampa in the Central Region last Friday, participants indicated that young people were considered a vulnerable group since they were sexually active and were often involved in unprotected sex, but parents had failed to give their young children sex education.
The assembly was organised by the Central Regional office of the National Youth Authority (NYA) with funding from the United Nations Agency for Populations Activities (UNFPA) to give opportunity to the youth to enlighten themselves on issues confronting them.
Family Planning Services
The participants also called on family planning agencies to make available their services to the youth.
They said the frequency of unplanned teenage pregnancies, teenage parenting and reported and unreported cases of abortion and the high patronage of sex —enhancing products were an indication of the youth’s heightened sexual activities.
“The high unmet need for family planning among sexually active unmarried women, including young girls in and out of school, need refocusing,” they stated.
Active youth involvement
Participants also called for the active involvement of the youth in development activities as a means of preparing them for leadership positions in future.
Madam Emmanuella Ama Egyir who acted as District Chief Executive for the assembly, said if the future belonged to the youth, they must be prepared for the future today and must be allowed to play roles in national development now without further dissipating their strength, energy, enthusiasm and zeal on unproductive activities.
The NYA/UNFPA Focal Person for the Central Region, Mr Henry Kwesi Adu, said the mock assemblies had been educative for the youth and helped many of them to make responsible reproductive health choices.
“We have done it in a lot of communities and many of the youth have been affected positively by these assemblies,” he added.
Mrs Juliana Brown of the planned Parenthood Association of Ghana said it was disturbing that children were giving birth to children.
She called for the introduction of sex education into the curricula of schools to help children make responsible sexual decisions.