6 out of 10 youth had experienced sex - Survey

A Ministry of Health survey to find out how children were exposed to sex revealed that six out of every 10 youth aged between 10 and 15 had already experienced sex.
The survey also showed that seven out of every 10 children knew about sex, Dr. Sampson Antwi, a paediatrician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has disclosed.
He said this revelation was enough to ginger parents and the authorities to take the issue of sex education among the youth seriously in the face of the fast rate at which HIV/AIDS was spreading in the country.
Dr Antwi who is a resource person to Act Now Against AIDS (ANAA), a Non-Governmental organisation (NGO), was speaking at an AIDS education programme for the staff and pupils of Bohyen Metropolitan Assembly Primary school in Kumasi as part of ANAA's education campaign against HIV/AIDS in Basic schools in the Metropolis.
In this connection therefore, he has asked district assemblies to assist in the formation of virgins clubs in schools and in the communities so as to inculcate in the youth the importance of abstaining from early sex.
Dr Antwi regretted that the country's cultural practices, which ensured that the youth abstained from early sex had been abandoned in favour of negative foreign cultures.
He said the formation of the virgins clubs was necessary since children with solid sex education background were less likely to contract Sexually Transmitted Disease (STDs) than their colleagues who had very little or no sex education background.
Mr Kofi Nkrumah, Chief Executive Officer of ANAA, advised the pupils to discuss with their teachers, parents or guardians, anything they did not understand about sex for explanation and as a precautionary measure.
Mrs Comfort Gyasi, headmistress of the school appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to deal severely with teachers who flirt with their pupils.

A Ministry of Health survey to find out how children were exposed to sex revealed that six out of every 10 youth aged between 10 and 15 had already experienced sex.
The survey also showed that seven out of every 10 children knew about sex, Dr. Sampson Antwi, a paediatrician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has disclosed.
He said this revelation was enough to ginger parents and the authorities to take the issue of sex education among the youth seriously in the face of the fast rate at which HIV/AIDS was spreading in the country.
Dr Antwi who is a resource person to Act Now Against AIDS (ANAA), a Non-Governmental organisation (NGO), was speaking at an AIDS education programme for the staff and pupils of Bohyen Metropolitan Assembly Primary school in Kumasi as part of ANAA's education campaign against HIV/AIDS in Basic schools in the Metropolis.
In this connection therefore, he has asked district assemblies to assist in the formation of virgins clubs in schools and in the communities so as to inculcate in the youth the importance of abstaining from early sex.
Dr Antwi regretted that the country's cultural practices, which ensured that the youth abstained from early sex had been abandoned in favour of negative foreign cultures.
He said the formation of the virgins clubs was necessary since children with solid sex education background were less likely to contract Sexually Transmitted Disease (STDs) than their colleagues who had very little or no sex education background.
Mr Kofi Nkrumah, Chief Executive Officer of ANAA, advised the pupils to discuss with their teachers, parents or guardians, anything they did not understand about sex for explanation and as a precautionary measure.
Mrs Comfort Gyasi, headmistress of the school appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to deal severely with teachers who flirt with their pupils.