times of malta.com
Saturday, 27th November 2010
Sexual health policy highlights poor knowledge, ‘scanty’ education
Only three per cent of young people aged 14 to 16 could correctly identify three sexually transmitted infections – HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea and Chlamydia – from a list of common diseases, according to a study.
Girls came across as significantly more knowledgeable than boys about STIs, the study, which formed part of Roderick Bugeja’s doctorate in health, established.
Sexual education in schools also emerges as “scanty and uncoordinated”, mainly because of the little time allocated to the subject and lack of targets and standards.
This, according to the study, exposes the urgent need for more research and monitoring of educational practices to ensure standards are set and maintained in terms of teaching methods, content and timing of lessons.
This situation was highlighted in the long-awaited National Sexual Health Policy, released by Health Minister Joe Cassar yesterday after spending 11 years in the pipeline. The policy will serve as a stepping stone towards a national strategy.
Consultative workshops started being held yesterday and the aim is to start drawing up the strategy by the end of February. Dr Cassar said there had been enough procrastination and he was determined to forge ahead.
Presenting the policy, Dr Cassar said the government would hear all voices but would take the final decisions that would balance values with reality.
The policy stresses the need for research, education and cooperation across the sectors involved in sexual health.
It concludes that, “evidence strongly suggests that comprehensive sexuality education does not hasten the onset or increase sexual activity”.
“Sexuality education has been commonly defined as a lifelong learning process starting in childhood, with a potential to promote positive sexuality,” the policy says.
It acknowledges that there appears to be consensus that people need awareness of all contraception and fertility methods to be able to take informed decisions.
However, Dr Bugeja’s study highlights a widespread lack of preparedness and effective technical skills by teachers to discuss sexual issues with students during Personal and Social Development (PSD) classes.
Also noted is the lack of professional educational resources for teachers, a lack of standards and coordination by teachers of different subjects in addressing sexual health.
During a PSD conference earlier this month Dr Bugeja pointed out that there were some schools in Malta where PSD was not being taught in Forms 3 to 5.
The policy calls for the involvement of parents who need guidance in sexually educating their children.
It also speaks of the need for training for a range of professionals who work in the field so as to develop appropriate attitudes towards sexual health issues, knowledge and skills.
It suggests exploring the idea of centralising services into an accessible one-stop-shop that would include the GU clinic, contraceptive advice, cervical screening, testicular examination, on-the-spot pregnancy testing, and counselling, among others.
Ray Busuttil, director general of public health, explained that before setting the policy into a strategy it was important to understand the local scenario by monitoring main indicators.
Social and behavioural factors, such as the incidence of sexual violence and abuse of alcohol and drugs, had to be understood.
It was also important to gain a better understanding of medical, health and educational services, outline evaluation and quality assurance policies and keep legislation abreast with evolving realities.
Dr Busuttil said Malta’s sexual health policy had to open up to global realities. For example, as immigrants from North Africa came to Malta, the authorities had also to be prepared to deal with issues such as female genital mutilation.
Sexual behaviour by numbers
• Between 2000 and 2009, 936 babies were born to mothers under 18 amounting to 2.5 per cent of all babies delivered in those years.
• Five per cent of teenage mothers, between 2000 and 2009, were under 15 years old and gave birth to 47 babies.
• Ten per cent of teenagers between 15 and 16 years had unprotected sex because of a personal alcohol problem. The European average is eight per cent.
• Almost a third of sexually active teenagers between 14 and 16 years had sex at least once under the influence of alcohol or other substances.
• Five per cent of sexually active people had more than one sexual partner.
• The most commonly used methods of contraception are the withdrawal method (20.3 per cent) followed by condom use (18.9 per cent).
• 65.3 per cent of sexually active people claim they do not use contraception.
Policy objectives
• Establish the need for research to secure accurate data.
• Project and plan to address the challenges of the future.
• Identify and evaluate the role and contribution to the media.
• Determine the provision of adequate and equitable health and social services and support, which match the current needs.
• Collate and evaluate the social, cultural and religious dimensions of sexual health, within Malta’s specific context.
• Respect and care towards human life from its conception.
• Map the monitoring, surveillance and legal framework.
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