Sex Education: What Time Is Right?

“Do not let him touch you. If he does, you will get pregnant.”

Handed down from parents to children, this common statement was enough to instil fear in the lives of the average African until recently.

Sex is a word that is spoken and written with caution, yet accounts for the incidence of rape, pregnancy and the transfer of STDs in Africa are all linked to the absence and disregard of sex education.

In Nigeria, the 2017 National Health Survey showed that only 29% of women and 27.9% of men between the ages of 15 to 24 can explain how to prevent the transmission of HIV. Meanwhile, Nigeria, with two-thirds of HIV carriers in West Africa, accounts for the second largest HIV epidemic nation in the world.

With the high rate of sexual misorientation in the nation, Nigerians are plagued by myths that surround sex such as the use of Andrews Liver Salts, a laxative and antacid to prevent one from getting pregnant irrespective of unprotected sex and the objectification of genders as sexual creatures.

A disturbing orientation, UNESCO states that the ideal age to start educating children is between the ages of 5 to 19. However, this statement is seen as an upsurge of the Nigerian traditional belief system. Opinions on what the right time is have become a subject of debate. While some preach abstinence, another school believes that educating them equates their early start of having sex.

WATCH:

Grab a copy of the Guardian Life today as we uncover sex education in Nigeria if there is a need for awareness at an early age and how sex education can be used to prevent lasting damage to adolescents.