[afro-nets] Doctors Oppose Ideologically Driven STI Prevention (2)

[Edward C Green <EGreendc@aol.com>]

Doctors Oppose Ideologically Driven STI Prevention Policies (2)
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We have to face reality!

Leela McCullough passed on this call-to-action:

 > "There's no doubt that the best way to prevent sexually trans-
 > mitted infections is to abstain from sexual activity, or to be
 > in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner. But we
 > have to face reality," says Walter E. Stamm, MD, president of
 > the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). "Most teenag-
 > ers have sex before they graduate from high school. Millions of
 > young people, as well as adults, are sexually active outside of
 > monogamous relationships. We need to supply them with the tools
 > to make wise choices."

Those wild and crazy American teenagers! Good thing African
teens are not like that.

Did you know that MOST (unmarried) African youth 15-24 nowadays
report not having had sex in the past year? How can I make this
statement? Take a look at DHS data from 1990 to the present, at
the proportion reporting having sex in the past year. It's
available at the Macro DHS website

If you average all countries in SSA together, you find that in
fact only 42.6% of males and 30.9% of unmarried females ages 15-
24 report sexual intercourse in the past year.

So, whatever is going on in American high schools (and I don't
want to get into the debate at the moment, having once been a
wild and crazy American teenager myself), MOST unmarried African
teenagers (and young adults up to age 24) did not have sex in
the year prior to the demographic and health survey, covering
the years 1990 to the present, according to these surveys.

This should challenge the 'Myth Of The Promiscuous African Teen-
ager' for-whom-only-latex-is-realistic.

True, 42.6% of males and 31% of females are significant minori-
ties. And so youth in this category should be advised about con-
doms, partner reduction, and mutual fidelity. But be aware that
these perhaps surprisingly high levels of teen abstinence in Af-
rica came about with scarcely a penny going into the promotion
of abstinence. Now that the US government has adopted an ABC
policy, and assuming we can get past the "We have to face real-
ity..." and "Let's be realistic..." cynicism or resignation
(even if well intentioned), think of the possibilities we have
for making the proportions of Africans, Asians, Latin Americans,
etc. even higher in the A and B (Abstain, Be faithful) catego-
ries. That is, if high levels of A and B behaviors can be
achieved without the major donors promoting them, think what we
can do when we do promote them.

Edward C Green
mailto:EGreendc@aol.com


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30 Years GTZ. Partner for the Future. Worldwide.
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________________________________________________________

30 Years GTZ. Partner for the Future. Worldwide.
GTZ Spotlight 2005: Focus - Fascination - Future: Designing tomorrow's cities. http://www.gtz.de/spotlight