Why stress abstinence?
Feb 01, 2005
WHEN it comes to teenage sex today, the response is everywhere — don’t do it! But another campaign says: Give adolescents all the facts, including how to use a condom. So parents and peer educators are caught in a paradox.
By Titus Serunjogi
WHEN it comes to teenage sex today, the response is everywhere — don’t do it! But another campaign says: Give adolescents all the facts, including how to use a condom. So parents and peer educators are caught in a paradox.
More than a third of Ugandan high schools have programmes, which teach sex can wait. According to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), the number of secondary school students, who say they had ever had sex had fallen from 54% in 1991 to 46% in 2001.
Abstinence eliminates the risk of pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
Researchers are beginning to find some failures in the condom. According to Dr Bana Mugisha of the AIDS Information Centre, “Condoms can only totally eliminate the risk of gonorrhea in men and pregnancy.†But they cannot shield Human Pappillomavirus (HPV), which is the fastest spreading STD. And skin-to skin contact with a lesion can spread genital herpes, syphilis or HPV even if one is wearing a condom.
HPV leads to cervical cancer, which affects about 250 in every 100,000 females, according to prof Henry Wabinga of the Uganda Cancer registry.
Condoms may curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. But there are much higher risks of the latex slipping when teens use it. This is mainly due to carelessness. Research has shown teenagers are the most vulnerable to AIDS.
Naguru teenage centre recently screened a film showing the horrid side of sex. Say, a man’s parts oozing pus from gonorrhea and a uterus swollen with pelvic inflammatory disease. As the audience left afterwards, the message has stuck. “Sex can wait!â€
“All STDs that can be transmitted through intercourse can also be transmitted orally,†says Monica Wandera, a voluntary counsellor. True, abstinence must be promoted as a first choice. But teenagers should also be taught how to reduce risks once they have sex.â€
WHEN it comes to teenage sex today, the response is everywhere — don’t do it! But another campaign says: Give adolescents all the facts, including how to use a condom. So parents and peer educators are caught in a paradox.
More than a third of Ugandan high schools have programmes, which teach sex can wait. According to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), the number of secondary school students, who say they had ever had sex had fallen from 54% in 1991 to 46% in 2001.
Abstinence eliminates the risk of pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
Researchers are beginning to find some failures in the condom. According to Dr Bana Mugisha of the AIDS Information Centre, “Condoms can only totally eliminate the risk of gonorrhea in men and pregnancy.†But they cannot shield Human Pappillomavirus (HPV), which is the fastest spreading STD. And skin-to skin contact with a lesion can spread genital herpes, syphilis or HPV even if one is wearing a condom.
HPV leads to cervical cancer, which affects about 250 in every 100,000 females, according to prof Henry Wabinga of the Uganda Cancer registry.
Condoms may curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. But there are much higher risks of the latex slipping when teens use it. This is mainly due to carelessness. Research has shown teenagers are the most vulnerable to AIDS.
Naguru teenage centre recently screened a film showing the horrid side of sex. Say, a man’s parts oozing pus from gonorrhea and a uterus swollen with pelvic inflammatory disease. As the audience left afterwards, the message has stuck. “Sex can wait!â€
“All STDs that can be transmitted through intercourse can also be transmitted orally,†says Monica Wandera, a voluntary counsellor. True, abstinence must be promoted as a first choice. But teenagers should also be taught how to reduce risks once they have sex.â€