While it is well-known that Africa, and especially sub-Saharan Africa has very high HIV/AIDS rates, it’s also true that for many teenagers in these sub-Saharan countries, they have very little access to condoms or to the kind of content taught in sex ed classes about safe sex. According to studies done in four of these countries (Malawi, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Ghana), only about half of teenagers there had received any sort of sex education. This is due to the fact that there tends to be a silence in many of these countries when it comes to sexual matters and AIDS prevention, and as a result, many teenagers are unaware about details concerning sex, STDs, and pregnancy, and also don’t use contraceptives like condoms. In fact, studies showed that while the vast majority of teenagers had heard of HIV, less than 40% knew how to prevent transmitting it. In another study done across 17 countries, it was shown that more than half of the girls surveyed could not name a single way to prevent HIV. Because of this lack of knowledge, many teenagers are unaware of how to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS. Studies done in Kenya reveal a similar lack of sexual knowledge, especially for teenage girls. In Kenya, sex education is not taught in school; rather, this sort of material is taught at home, and teenagers learn primarily from their grandparents and peers. The dominant emphasis in this culture is that sex is only for procreation, and teenagers really only learn the details of what sex entails from their married peers. In addition, sex is mentioned very minimally in Kenyan culture: women only discuss it after they’re married, and men don’t at all, as discussing sex is viewed as diminishing their masculinity and control. In addition, Kenya has only recently begun to talk about how serious the AIDS situation is, despite two-and-a-half million Kenyans being infected. Because there is so little passing on of information, young people in Kenya are growing up unaware of how to protect themselves from STDs and AIDS.
These studies recommend that schools in Africa should try to provide sexual and reproductive information in a comprehensive way to teenagers living in these countries. Emphasis should be placed not only on teaching things like birth control and making sure teens have access to it, but also on training teachers to be educated about sexual education so that they can teach it accurately. These studies also suggest that sex ed be taught to younger teenagers as well, before they become sexually active. In addition, sex ed in these countries needs to focus also on gender-related issues as well as sexual and reproductive, so that these teens will be able to apply them to their own lives. Emphasis should be placed as well on creating places where young adults can be tested for STDs and treatment for them should be included in the health care system.
Of course, all of this is considered idealistic, as even these studies show that improved sex ed will not single-handedly lower HIV rates. There are other matters to consider; for example, in many countries, African women don’t have any say in their sex lives, which helps spread HIV infection even faster. With things like this, it will probably take changes toward traditional views toward women and more sexual education for men, especially in the use of condoms, to help increase HIV/AIDS prevention. This, plus the recent emphasis on abstinence-only teachings indicates that changes both in the sex ed system and in HIV prevention knowledge may be a while off.
