KUCHING: The Federal government has been urged to seriously review the country’s sexual and reproductive policies in order to prevent pregnancies among adolescents.
Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soon said that Health Ministry; Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) and the Education Ministry need to look into the matter and work in tandem to strengthen primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies.
“Sarawak’s high statistic of adolescent pregnancies speaks of the failure of our education system to equip our young population with essential knowledge about sexual and reproductive health to protect themselves,” she said on Saturday (Jan 30).
Soo said this following Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah’s revelation that adolescent pregnancies topped 2,099 cases last year, while there were 41 baby dumping cases from 2014 to last year.
“What is even more alarming is the disclosure that adolescent pregnancies in Sarawak involved children as young as 10 years old. A 10-year-old girl is still in her childhood, and she is bringing another child into this world,” she exclaimed.
Therefore, as girls today enter puberty stage earlier, sex education must be given at an early stage.
“It is not the solution to think that sex is not a topic to be discussed by children, and to think that we can protect them by not discussing it,” she said.
Soo mentioned that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other research organisations which advocate comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), teach both abstinence and contraception which has been known to delay the age of sexual initiation.
“CSE does not undermine values and morals, but provides youth-friendly and non-judgemental healthcare services where young people have a safe space where they feel comfortable to seek comprehensive information on their sexual and reproductive health,” she said.
Additionally, she said the International Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Sexuality Education produced by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that, depending on the culture and values held by communities, CSE should involve key values central to the relevant religions and cultures, a salient point in the country’s multicultural and pluralistic society.
“As such, the heaviest burden of this lack of knowledge falls on young girls because they are the ones who get pregnant and are often left alone to deal with the consequences.
“In our efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies it is also important to involve young men and educate them on the importance of making responsible decisions in relationships with the fairer sex,” she stressed.
