"Our" issues

"Our" issues - sharing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights responsibility

Every now and then, the New Zealand Parliamentarian's Group on Population and Development (NZPPD) will have an open hearing, which the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Sub-Regional Office (PSRO) supports.

The support from UNFPA Pacific merely seeks to ensure an inclusive and as wide a collection of perspectives as possible by, among other activities, supporting Pacific island representatives who express an interest in making a submission to the NZPPD.

On Monday, another open hearing was hosted in Wellington on the topic of engaging boys and men in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) initiatives, specifically looking at lessons learned from the Pacific.

"The open hearing was an excellent opportunity for the Pacific to prove that we have implemented activities which can inform other initiatives in other regions but also affirm to donors that their investment in development is making a difference," UNFPA Pacific Director and Representative Dr Laurent Zessler said.

"The topic of comprehensive sexuality education initiated a lot of discussions in particular in terms of the right time to begin it but it is a given that whenever these lessons begin, they are delivered in an age-appropriate manner."

The UNFPA Pacific office has worked with and continues to work with some 10 countries to review curricula that will allow the incorporation of comprehensive sexuality education or CSE so that the subject now includes topics that addresses confidence, self-esteem, an informed decision-making process, peer pressure and do on.

Multiple studies affirm that such early intervention which covers aspects of biological changes children can expect or are experiencing while simultaneously developing their sense of responsibility to their personhood, prolongs sexual debuts.

Children who are exposed to comprehensive sexuality education early studies have affirmed are more likely to put off sexual intercourse because they are informed of its consequences. They are also a lot more confident in warding off peer pressure; knowing and understanding that their decision-making and its consequences comes with responsibility, which is primarily theirs, is also a factor in their decisions towards sexual and reproductive health and rights matters.

At the open hearing in Wellington, UNFPA Pacific shared global findings of national surveys on men's sexual and reproductive health behavior in the 1990s which indicated that sexual debuts for most of them was before the age of 15; by their late 20s, men were either married or with a steady partner and half of them were fathers by their mid-20s.

While men and women both benefit from being informed of their sexual and reproductive health and rights, men in particular who are well-informed knew how to look after their sexual and reproductive health needs and that of their partners, were found to be better husbands and fathers.

It is true that developing nations are perhaps more interested in how to boost economic growth or improve employment rates by boosting options for those entering the labor market.

It is true that developing nations are perhaps more interested in addressing infrastructure issues and ensuring there is access to markets for farmers or ensuring that there are enough schools in rural areas or that we better how we police our humongous exclusive economic zones.

Another major issue developing Pacific island nations are now grappling with is climate change and how as a region, both governments and residents can expect more natural phenomenon that has great potential to become natural disasters.

Such focus areas for our leadership make logical sense and are very much practical stepping stones towards strengthening our positions as bona fide and serious members of the global village.

What UNFPA suggests for consideration is the question of where the people are in this flurry of development and progress if we do not address the most basic and starting point of life - sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights encompasses as private a decision as using a condom to protect yourself from sexually-transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS, to a decision that can be made equally by a couple whether or not to have a child and the spacing between their children, to as public a decision as national planners ensuring that all pregnant women will be attended by midwives, for safe deliveries.

As the world transits to a transformational development agenda beyond 2015, nations are encouraged to revisit the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which more than 170 countries endorsed.

UNFPA has a strong mandate to work in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, including men and women.

The ICPD is a global development framework which has been repeatedly affirmed in regional frameworks - in 2012, the Pacific Island Forum Leaders declared to promote gender equality committing to: "Ensure reproductive health education, awareness and service programs receive adequate funding support"; in 2013, Pacific parliamentarians through the Moana Declaration prioritized the need for couples and individuals' access to contraception and SRH information; and in 2014, youth advocates at the Youth Pre-SIDS TALAVOU Conference called for greater access to youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health information and services for young boys and girls and called for school curricula to incorporate both the social and biological aspects of SRHR at age-appropriate levels from pre-adolescence. Also in 2014, the SAMOA Pathway reiterated SRH and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the ICPD as well as the Beijing Platform for Action.

There is no lack of political will and most countries have been implementing programming in the area but there remains a gaping chasm between existing activities and the involvement of men and boys.

Addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights is the first step towards a resilient population and men and boys must share the responsibility for its effectiveness; may we be the first region of countries that ends the prevailing view that it is a "woman's issue".

ENDS

© Scoop Media