For the health of adolescents
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Ameer Hamza
In a generally 'conservative' (or is it 'repressed'?) society like ours, dispassionate discussion of human sexuality is hardly an easy affair. Most regard this basic instinct as taboo, or, at worst, a rather prurient quest. Both attitudes are bad for human society and experts in adolescent reproductive health ( the S-word is not considered politically correct ! ) have for years been trying to overcome this psycho-social hurdle. One of their strategies has been to get a cross section of decision and opinion-makers, including parents and teachers, to address the hitherto unmentionable and awkward issue for the health of our growing children.
Bangladesh is brimming with young people just stepping into puberty. And reaching them with the right kind of information --- about their blooming bodies and exploring minds ---- is crucial, if diseases and disabilities linked with their reproductive phase in life are to be avoided. Nearly 25 per cent of the nation was said to be in the 10 to 19 age bracket about a decade ago, which meant that then, some thirty million youngsters were at the most impressionable and vulnerable age. Puberty is the period when young people need the most guidance, specially with regard to their reproductive health, so that they may be spared the hazards of groping their way into sexual activity, be it within socially recognized liaisons or otherwise.
Considering that about seventy per cent of the girls in rural Bangladesh are married off by the age of fifteen, and that mortality of adolescent would-be-mothers and new-borns are scandalously high, the importance of adolescent-friendly sexual-health couldn't be clearer. But while on the subject, it would be wise to beware of contraceptive peddlers bent on co-opting this good campaign. They would be too happy to subvert the spirit of reproductive-health related information and communication strategies which, in good main means to educate the young on how to respond responsibly to their own reproductive needs and urges in order to avoid related diseases.
In cultures like ours, self-discipline, restraint and religious guidance are still said to play a greater role in keeping down STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) than such old-fashioned, puritanical attitudes are given credit for. Sex education is of course important ---- and it should be designed to discourage the young from being seduced into misadventures ---- but let it not be supplanted with what cynics call ' the throw-away condom culture' of today's world, where everything, including human relationships, is an instant commodity, primarily to be consumed, and little else.
While nobody can deny the usefulness of the ubiquitous sheath in protecting reckless pleasure seekers against STDs and unwanted pregnancies, isn't it curious that hygienic practices, like the mandatory ablutions of the Islamic faith, are never advocated as desirable behaviour to ward off 'carnal' diseases ? One need'nt be a spoilsport or a puritan to suggest that adolescents and adult wolves alike should adopt a wholesome attitude towards this basic human instinct ---- sexuality ---- which is a vital, but certainly not the only raison d'etre for the human animal.
In a generally 'conservative' (or is it 'repressed'?) society like ours, dispassionate discussion of human sexuality is hardly an easy affair. Most regard this basic instinct as taboo, or, at worst, a rather prurient quest. Both attitudes are bad for human society and experts in adolescent reproductive health ( the S-word is not considered politically correct ! ) have for years been trying to overcome this psycho-social hurdle. One of their strategies has been to get a cross section of decision and opinion-makers, including parents and teachers, to address the hitherto unmentionable and awkward issue for the health of our growing children.
Bangladesh is brimming with young people just stepping into puberty. And reaching them with the right kind of information --- about their blooming bodies and exploring minds ---- is crucial, if diseases and disabilities linked with their reproductive phase in life are to be avoided. Nearly 25 per cent of the nation was said to be in the 10 to 19 age bracket about a decade ago, which meant that then, some thirty million youngsters were at the most impressionable and vulnerable age. Puberty is the period when young people need the most guidance, specially with regard to their reproductive health, so that they may be spared the hazards of groping their way into sexual activity, be it within socially recognized liaisons or otherwise.
Considering that about seventy per cent of the girls in rural Bangladesh are married off by the age of fifteen, and that mortality of adolescent would-be-mothers and new-borns are scandalously high, the importance of adolescent-friendly sexual-health couldn't be clearer. But while on the subject, it would be wise to beware of contraceptive peddlers bent on co-opting this good campaign. They would be too happy to subvert the spirit of reproductive-health related information and communication strategies which, in good main means to educate the young on how to respond responsibly to their own reproductive needs and urges in order to avoid related diseases.
In cultures like ours, self-discipline, restraint and religious guidance are still said to play a greater role in keeping down STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) than such old-fashioned, puritanical attitudes are given credit for. Sex education is of course important ---- and it should be designed to discourage the young from being seduced into misadventures ---- but let it not be supplanted with what cynics call ' the throw-away condom culture' of today's world, where everything, including human relationships, is an instant commodity, primarily to be consumed, and little else.
While nobody can deny the usefulness of the ubiquitous sheath in protecting reckless pleasure seekers against STDs and unwanted pregnancies, isn't it curious that hygienic practices, like the mandatory ablutions of the Islamic faith, are never advocated as desirable behaviour to ward off 'carnal' diseases ? One need'nt be a spoilsport or a puritan to suggest that adolescents and adult wolves alike should adopt a wholesome attitude towards this basic human instinct ---- sexuality ---- which is a vital, but certainly not the only raison d'etre for the human animal.