-MPs call for more abstinence programmes
Although more teens have access to condoms, the pregnancy rate across the country shows that youths are not wrapping up and stakeholders are calling for a fresh strategy that shifts from contraceptive to abstinence advocacy.
The condom strategy has failed to have the impact intended, Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting on the Social Services Sectoral Committee said yesterday, noting that the time has come for a re-assessment of the tactics used in shaping the country’s approach to adolescent sex.
But Sheila Fraser of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA), who presented a report to the committee on the condom distribution policy, said condoms are a realistic approach, as youths are engaging in sex at earlier ages. She said the straight talk on abstinence might have worked about a decade ago, but research continues to show a fast growing population of sexually active Guyanese youths.
In the absence of supporting evidence that condom distribution has reduced the number of teenage pregnancies, the committee said, it is critical that a new strategy is implemented “as the nation’s youths continue to walk a road, ripe with unprotected sex and grave implications”.
The glaring images of young girls with bulging tummies popping up in communities across the country has been a sore point in the country’s history for too long, the committee observed, adding that the situation requires immediate attention since there is little hope the numbers would diminish.
“Condom distribution to children under age 16 years goes against the spirit of our legislation, and we are descending to immorality by allowing it to happen,” AFC MP Latchmin Punalall said yesterday. In 2005, an amendment was passed that set the age of consent at 16.
Punalall slammed the condom distribution policy to youths, saying it is promoting a culture of sexual activity and argued that abstinence would only work if it is promoted aggressively and continuously. She asserted that lifestyle changes will have the desired impact as opposed to a strategy that offers condoms to children as young as 13 if they request it.
Guyana has a condom distribution policy based on demand. Condoms are handed out as persons request them, including young people. Last year some 162,569 condoms were distributed countrywide according to Fraser, and up to October this year distribution was close to 50,000.
Fraser said youths are a priority group within the GRPA, noting that in the past few months the organisation has conducted several outreaches across the country. She pointed out that although condom distribution among them is fairly high, teenage pregnancy remains a critical issue. “We have responded to requests by schools for lectures on condom use and abstinence,” Fraser said. “Only recently we received one from the Wales Secondary school, which has reported that teenage pregnancy is high in the community,” she added.
The ideal situation it to preach abstinence, Fraser explained, noting that children do lack information as it relates to sex.
But according to her, many of them are still engaging in sexual activities. She opined that a new strategy is perhaps needed if youths continue to ignore the information that is being made accessible to them.
PPP/C MP Philomena Sahoye-Shury declared that something is seriously wrong in the country when the frequency of teenage pregnancy is taken into consideration. “This cannot be good for Guyana,” she said, adding that the time has come for a re-assessment of the current strategies with the urgency to implement a plan that is more effective.
By handing out condoms only a part of the problem is addressed, Sahoye-Shury pointed out, adding that any strategy being implemented must address the cause and effect factor of the situation.
She said too that it is perhaps time to move away from condom distribution and focus on something more beneficial, like preaching abstinence.
Fraser, acknowledging that abstinence may work, pointed out that a multi-sect oral approach is needed to tackle the issue of teenage pregnancy while core family values are also needed if real changes are to be made.
The GRPA was criticised by the committee for not compiling any statistics on teenage pregnancy and relying instead on research done by other agencies.
Fraser responded that the work of the body is mainly on providing information, in addition to conducting behavioral studies.
Further, the committee noted that there is need for mechanisms to be put in place to gauge the real impact of any of the condom distribution programmes on teenage pregnancy.
The Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project (GHARP) was also scheduled to present on the policy of condom distribution to the committee, but no representative from the body turned up.
