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Parents in Zimbabwe Asked to Discuss Reproductive Health With Children

Posted on: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 09:01 CDT

Parents in Zimbabwe asked to discuss reproductive health with children

HARARE, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (NFPC) on Wednesday urged parents to discuss reproductive health issues with their children for informing them about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Simbarashe Namusi, the production manager of NFPC, said that most youths in the country were engaging in risky sexual behavior out of ignorance about the risks of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

He said many young people grow up into adulthood without knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases.

He contributed the ignorance to the old tradition of viewing sex as taboo and the breakdown of the extended family.

"There is an information gap between parents and children due to the old tradition of viewing sex as taboo," he said.

The breakdown of the extended family had created a vacuum of information and left young people without support systems to cope with adulthood, he said.

"It is better for parents to ignore the taboos and tell children about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases," he said, adding "young people need protection and the person close to them is the parent."

Namusi said the NFPC was intensifying the war against HIV/AIDS by telling young people to abstain from pre-marital sex.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. At least 24 percent of people aged between 19 and 49 years in the country live with the infection.

It is estimated that 3,000 people die from HIV/AIDS every week while more than 800,000 children have lost their parents to the infection.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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