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Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe Review Editor
There is need to break sexuality taboos so as to inform and empower not just young people, but parents, guardians, teachers and other custodians if Zimbabwe is to save the next generation from dangers of high maternal and infant mortality rates, child marriages and new HIV infections, civil society says. This has come in response to public outcry over Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe director-general Ms Gugu Mahlangu’s call to allow 16-year-olds access to contraceptives.

This has been literally taken to mean that contraceptives will be distributed in schools and many people have decried the perceived destruction of the country’s moral fibre. Padare Enkundleni executive director Mr Kelvin Hazangwi said there is need to educate and re-orient society to be able to discuss comprehensive sexuality in a constructive manner.

“The issue here is not just about handing out pills or condoms, but dealing with sexuality comprehensively so that our young people have the correct information and can make informed decisions. “We are coming from a society where it was taboo to discuss sexuality, where anything to do with sex was diseased or improper. Then now we have media reports of children who have sex parties and orgies while they are still in high school.”

Mr Hazangwi said ignorance is deadly as young people then turn to myths like that of teen girls believing that drinking the deadly mixture of battery acid and coke will induce an abortion.

The Guttmacher Institute whose primary goal is to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights through an interrelated programme of research, policy analysis and public education designed to generate new ideas, encourage enlightened public debate and promote sound policy and programme development says that tackling Zimbabwean adolescent reproductive health will benefit the whole country.

In an essay titled “Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs Of Adolescents in Zimbabwe” the institute says:

“Many obstacles prevent young Zimbabweans from acting on their desire to postpone parenthood and stay HIV-free. Protecting adolescents from unintended pregnancy and HIV infection by providing them with essential sexual and reproductive health information and services will be critical if Zimbabwe is to fulfil its long-term economic development goals.”

Supporting adolescents’ needs will also bring the country closer to achieving two reproductive health–related Millennium Development Goals: 5 (reduce maternal mortality by 75 percent) and 6 (halt the spread of HIV).

Students and youth working on Reproductive Health Team (Saywhat) who say their vision is to see sexual and reproductive rights for all students and youths says that those advocating against the empowerment of young people through information are adopting an ostrich-like mentality as they are refusing to face the facts.

“As a society we are in denial that our young people are indulging in sexual activity, yet they are falling pregnant. Just because we are afraid of facing the truth it does not mean that it is not happening,” said Saywhat executive director Mr Jimmy Wilford.

According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey teen pregnancies rates have gone up over the past few years. In 2011, the fertility rate among teenage girls aged 15-19 was 112 births per 1 000 girls, compared to 99 births per 1 000 girls in 2006. Studies conducted from as far back as the turn of the century have established that ignorance is danger to the health of young people in the country.

“In Zimbabwe, adults generally have more knowledge than young people about STIs, according to Save the Children Zimbabwe, a 1999 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS), and a May 2001 study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The UNICEF study suggests that more than two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s adults have heard of gonorrhoea and syphilis compared with 50 percent of out-of-school youth.

The study also found that youth know little about STIs and the signs or symptoms of infection. Only 21 percent of women under age 20 were able to name two or more common STI symptoms, and their knowledge was confined to syphilis and gonorrhoea.

The site also goes on to list a number of factors putting adolescents at risk:
“Young people 15 to 24 years old in Zimbabwe are the group most vulnerable to HIV and other STIs. Factors that increase their risks of exposure include:

• Early sexual experimentation;
• Limited access to reproductive health services, including treatment for STIs, information about sexual health, and advice on responsible behaviour;
• Harmful cultural practices;
• Social and urban changes in values;
• Loss of traditional support systems; and
• Economic insecurity.”

Mr Wilford, however, said there is need for clarity of purpose and communication if everyone is to appreciate the problems and work together towards solutions.

“We need to be very clear of what our goal is. What is it we want to achieve? We need to create an atmosphere that is conducive for discussing reproductive health issues openly with our young people. That child who is there and does not know anything about sexuality and sex needs to be educated and informed, then have access to services if they so wish.”

The Guttmacher institute said the country needs to work with facts and not assumptions:

“The assumption that early adolescents are not sexually active (or the desire to believe this is the case) has resulted in serious limitations on what prevention and intervention programmes can address at different developmental stages. The incongruity between what is discussed by parents and school programmes for male adolescents and what young males are already doing is particularly striking; for females, clear messages about the importance of delaying sex or using protection are often delivered too late.”

In its message on the commemoration of the Day of the African Child in June this year whose theme centred on preventing child marriages the African Union zeroed in on the health dangers of adolescent pregnancy.

“We cannot downplay or neglect the harmful practice of child marriage, as it has long term and devastating effects on these girls whose health is at risk and at worst leading to death due to child birth and other complications,” said chairperson of the AU Commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa encourages governments across the continent to set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years. The Campaign also focuses on strengthening families and communities to protect their children, and ensuring they have access to key information and services of quality.

In its media release during the same commemoration the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) also highlighted the challenges of early sexual activity in Zimbabwe.

“Poverty, lack of education, gender stereotyping, discrimination and negative religious practices have resulted in millions of these girls being married off before their 18th birthday.

“Zimbabwe is one of the 40 countries in the world with an unacceptably high rate of child marriages, where girls enter into marriage before they turned 18. According to the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2014), 32,8 percent of women aged between 20 and 49 reported that they were married before they were 18; while 24,5 percent of girls between 15 and 19 years are currently married,” read the release.

The National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, 2010–2015 which is part of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare’s National Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy has been crafted to ensure that adolescents access reproductive health information and services including contraceptives.

The document also stresses that access to access to contraceptives alone is not going to do much to help our children make wise choices and reach right decisions unless they are also empowered with the right information.