Safe sex education needed

By LULU MAGINDE
THE taboo surrounding sex in Papua New Guinea (PNG), whether talking about or having it, prevents girls and women from practising safely, a United Nations (UN) official claims.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative Marielle Sander observed that sex outside marriage was seen as a taboo, meaning that young men and women were not accessing the right information about contraceptives and safe sex practices.
“Unmarried young men and women must be encouraged to protect themselves to avoid long-term infections that may impact their ability to reproduce,” she said.
“Sixty per cent of PNG’s population is under the age of 25, so elders need to speak up and openly to address this looming health crisis.”
Sander said that there was a misunderstanding that family planning was only for married couples.
In today’s world, people must be able to protect themselves from risks that their parents perhaps did not face or may not be comfortable talking about, if they did.
“Family planning doesn’t mean planning to not have children; it means spacing children so that parents are able to care for the them,” she said.
Family planning and having the access to the right information ensures that young people have the information they need to stay healthy and build strong families.
Sander noted that girls and women know how to protect themselves from HIV, STIs and unintended pregnancies, but lack the decision-making power to influence safe sex within a sexual relationship, putting them at risk of falling pregnant and contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
“A contradiction between modern health messaging and gendered roles, women and girls are expected to be responsible for family planning but are then condemned for practising safe sex.”