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Loveness Bepete Chronicle Reporter
School children should be given contraceptives, the government body charged with family planning said yesterday, in a move likely to torch a storm in conservative Zimbabwe.The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council said pupils were engaging in sex at an early age and giving them access to contraceptives would prevent unwanted pregnancies and risk of contracting HIV/Aids among teenagers.
ZNFPC communications and marketing manager Simon Chikwizo said it was unwise for society to ignore that some pupils were sexually active and deny them access to contraceptives.
“At colleges or universities, students access contraceptives from local clinics. We’re not saying distribute contraceptives in schools but many pupils are sexually active and they should be allowed to freely access contraceptives without being stigmatised,” Chikwizo said.
He said people working at points that issue contraceptives such as clinics should change their negative attitudes towards pupils who are willing to access them.
Chikwizo said although the country’s policies did not allow distribution of contraceptives in schools, some pupils were sexually active.
“Reproductive health challenges facing young people in Zimbabwe include low use of contraception. The Ministry of Education policy doesn’t allow distribution of condoms in lower institutions of learning. But sexual activity begins early and is often unprotected, associated with risks such as HIV/Aids, pregnancy and unsafe abortion, economic hardship and school drop-outs,” he said.
Chikwizo said adolescents faced higher reproductive risks than older women.
He said pregnancy was the leading cause of death for younger women aged between 15 to 19 years worldwide with complications of childbirth and unsafe abortions being the major risk factor.
“Teenage girls who are not physically mature are at greater risk of obstructed labour, pregnancy-induced hypertension and obstetric fistula (the creation of a hole between the birth canal and anal area during prolonged labour and highly contribute to child mortality rate),” he said.
Chikwizo said girls aged between 15 to 19 years were twice as likely to die in childbirth as those in their 20s.
“Death and injury rates are higher among infants born to young mothers who are less likely to get pre-natal care, and babies born to very young mothers are most likely to be premature or underweight,” he said.
He said that supportive policies were needed in the country so as to effectively deal with adolescent reproductive health related issues and hindrances to provision of information services.
Earlier this month Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora said he would not allow the distribution of condoms in schools, arguing that it would compromise the country’s dignity.
He said the practice was also culturally unacceptable in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter