In prudish Kenya, sex education on horizon
Print Edition
WHEN Kenyan teenager Rosemary Olale found out she was pregnant, her guardians threw her out of their home in shame, despite the fact no one taught her about safe sex.
She didn’t dare tell them she was also HIV positive.
“You just feel like everybody doesn’t want you,” said Olale, sitting with a dozen other HIV-positive women, each with a small child on her lap, in a small home in Nairobi’s Saika slums.
Olale, now 37, started the group in 2005 to provide other HIV-positive women and young mothers with support in dealing with stigma, poverty and reproductive health issues.
African teens urgently need more information about sex to combat soaring HIV rates and unwanted pregnancies, experts say, as widespread taboos and cultural conservatism prevent discussions in schools and homes.
“Where I come from, talking about sex education with your girl is really difficult,” Olale said.
However, a growing number of businesses, charities and individuals are seeking to fill the gap in information.
The UN Population Fund and Nailab, a Kenyan firm that supports technology startups, are behind the latest initiative, which targets entrepreneurs for their ideas on providing sex education through technology and social media.
Candidates in the I.AM campaign launched this month, have until August to submit their ideas before four winners are chosen to receive training, mentorship and funding.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
