In a new analysis of data from 30 countries, Guttmacher Institute researchers report that large proportions of 15–19-year-olds are sexually active, but many lack critical knowledge such as the fact that a healthy-looking person can have HIV or where to get a condom. The study, published in the November issue of Sex Education, highlights the need for programs that provide young people with accurate, complete information about sex and contraception.
The authors examine 24 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and six in Latin America and the Caribbean. The majority of women 15–19 in 16 of the study countries have had sex, as have the majority of men the same age in 14 of the study countries. (Similarly, in Europe and the United States, about half to three in five adolescents have had sex.) While the situation varies greatly across countries, large proportions of adolescent women who are sexually active, and almost all such young men, are unmarried.
Many adolescents in developing countries receive little or no sex education before they start having sex. As a result, even after becoming sexually active, many do not know of any modern contraceptive method, including condoms.
"Our work in the United States and Europe has shown that being open and honest with teenagers does not encourage them to have sex earlier, but it does enable them to act responsibly when they become sexually active," says Sharon Camp, Ph.D., Guttmacher president and CEO. "This new analysis suggests that the same is true for developing countries—teens are already having sex, but in the absence of information that would protect them from pregnancy and disease. Adults worldwide need to do more to keep young people safe."
Previous Guttmacher research has shown that teens in countries that provide young people with comprehensive, balanced information about sex have low rates of childbearing and sexually transmitted infections. Further, program evaluations within the United States and elsewhere show that comprehensive sex education does not promote sexual activity among teenagers, but may help delay sex, reduce the number of sexual partners and improve contraceptive use.
Sound research on abstinence-only programs, on the other hand, shows little positive impact. Nevertheless, the U.S. government spends $167 million a year on highly restrictive abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that prohibit teachers from advocating use of condoms or other contraceptives, and is increasingly promoting the same approach overseas as part of the president’s AIDS prevention initiative.
"The abstinence-only movement, which already puts young Americans at risk, is now endangering adolescents in poor countries," says Dr. Camp. "Restrictions on the use of U.S. HIV/AIDS funding and the growing reach of the U.S.-based religious right will only make it harder for young people in Africa and Latin America to get the information they so desperately need. Policymakers should take note of this new study and recognize that to help teenagers avoid disease and unwanted pregnancies, we need realistic prevention efforts aimed at sexually active adolescents."
Dr. Camp will speak about the new study and the Guttmacher Institute’s perspective on comprehensive vs. abstinence-only sex education at the fourth International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development, taking place November 14 in Berlin.
"Evaluating the Need for Sex Education in Developing Countries: Sexual Behavior, Knowledge of Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections/HIV and Unplanned Pregnancy," in the November issue of Sex Education, was written by Susheela Singh, Akinrinola Bankole and Vanessa Woog of the Guttmacher Institute.