The Role of Education in Promoting Young People's Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Abstract

An expert meeting was held with researchers, practitioners and policy makers from around the world who came together to consider both the potential of education to protect against HIV/AIDS, and the changes that might need to take place to allow the education system to respond more adequately to present challenges. Three specific settings were focused upon: inschool settings, out-of-school contexts and higher education.

Following an introduction to the meeting and its objectives, this guide, which was developed as a result of the meeting, discusses background issues. This is then followed by descriptions of the projects. For the inschool settings, participants from four countries (China, Senegal, Vietnam and Zimbabwe) described their work with young people in schools. A fifth but related presentation described findings from the first major survey of school-based sex and health education in South and South East Asia and the Pacific. Representatives of out-of-school projects and activities in Kenya, India, Malawi and the Philippines described a wide variety of approaches to promoting young people's sexual health in out-of-school settings. For higher education, work in Botswana, Peru, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago was presented.

Several important lessons emerged from the projects and programmes reviewed. The final section of the guide summarises some of these as a step towards identifying elements of best practice, under the following subheadings:

  • Partnership Involvement
  • Starting from a clear values base
  • Supporting adults in their work
  • Planning for sustainability
  • The importance of context

. An appendix lists the participants of the meeting.

Citation

Warwick, I.; Aggleton, P. The Role of Education in Promoting Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health. (2002) 38 pp.

The Role of Education in Promoting Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Published 1 January 2002