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What’s next when the ABSTINENCE gospel fails?
maturity places them at greater risk of peer pressure to engage in high risk sexual behaviour. The age of puberty keeps dropping and young girls are menstruating well before the age of 11, yet in today’s’ society marriages are delayed and pre-marital sex has become part of society. It is time to bury the abstinence mantra and intensify the sexual reproductive rights education. It is increasingly becoming evident that today’s youths need information and knowledge more than anything in life. Sometime back when I was an Adolescent Trainer working for the Zimbabwe Catholics Bishops Conference, Health Department, I realised that knowledge is power. After speaking to girls about HIV/AIDS and the anti retroviral therapy in the country, showing them the pills and medication, one girl approached me and said that her boyfriend had told her that he was epileptic and that’s why he was taking Stavudine tablets. She wanted to know whether it was true that these tablets also cure epilepsy. At first l got numb. My eyes nearly popped out and then by sheer luck, l managed to gather myself and referred her to the sister in charge. I am told that the girl was put on ART. While it is best to play the moral card in life, there are times when other approaches have to be taken into consideration. Today’s adolescents know about sex but unfortunately, that knowledge has not been translated into responsible sex behaviour. When working with adolescents, a puritan approach on sexual issues places the society at risk. Before AIDS, promiscuity was already becoming unhealthier. It was fairly risky until the advent of anti-s which dealt with gonorrhea and syphilis. Then some penicillin-resistant February 2013
hen confronted with the question of what to do next when the ‘gospel’ of abstinence fails, most parents become very confused. The reason why it becomes a predicament is because our society is very conservative unlike other societies that are liberal and are open to embrace change when need be. The reproductive health landscape is changing fast and so we need to look at this landscape with fresh eyes, without blinkers. Those who wear blinkers may find themselves casualties of this fa