OUT of 392 adolescents and youths from eight regions across Guyana, 42 per cent were recorded as sexually active, when the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) revealed the results of their survey on adolescent and youth sexual trends in Guyana.In presenting the findings, Research Consultant, Sherlina Nageer, highlighted that the hinterland regions showed a higher prevalence of youths engaging in sexual activities, as opposed to the youths who reside in coastland regions.
Being a miniature survey, the GRPA was not able to capture a significant amount of youths across the country; however with the amount quantified, they were able to point out the areas which in some way, contribute towards these young individuals engaging in sexual activities.
According to Nageer, “As seen because of the different lifestyles on the coastland and the hinterland, the youths within the latter areas tend to engage in most of those activities, however, it shows that most of the youths do not attend school that engage in those actions.”
In those Hinterland areas, the survey showed that youths tend to drop out of school at an early age, and as such are not properly guided as to what is right from wrong when it comes to indulging in sexual activities.
Apart from that, youths are not only unguided, but they also lack the basic knowledge to engage in protected sex, and as such she revealed that over 50 per cent were engaging themselves in unprotected sex and were also unaware of what were contraceptives and other protective elements..
This is a situation, she points out, has been in existence for quite a while and needs to be addressed immediately, because if the younger ones are not aware of the risks which come with having unprotected sex, it could pose trouble in the near future.
While calling on the Ministry of Public Health to look into this, among other issues, she proposed that they would work alongside the Ministry to do a more broad-based survey, so as to get a wider view of what other secrets may be hiding out there as it relates to the said topic.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton in his remarks disclosed that the Ministry lauds the survey, given that it brought forward a number of issues that need to be addressed.
Dr Norton mentioned that the solutions to the problems already existed, but it called for a matter of implementation for which he intended to approach the Minister of Education, so that it could be a combined effort in tackling teenage pregnancy, as well as underage youths engaging in sexual activities.