The Lagos State Government has been urged to integrate Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and HIV Prevention into the school curriculum with purpose of reducing the rise in health indices of adolescent and young people in the state and Nigeria at large.
David Ita, AVAC fellow 2019 on Global Advocacy for HIV protection, made the call during a roundtable discussion on how adolescents and young people can access sexual reproductive health services. The round table discussion was organized by Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria (JAAIDS), in partnership with Nigeria HIV and Vaccine Microbicides Advocacy Society (NHVMAS).
Ita butressed that SRH services include enlightenment of adolescents on sexual related issues, knowledge of contraceptives and its use, teaching teenagers preventive methods to avoiding unwanted pregnancies and reducing HIV prevalence.
According to Ita, the media has a key role to play to convince the Lagos State and Federal Government to achieve the integration of Sexual Reproductive Health into school curriculum. He thereafter called on all media houses to help advocate for the integration of SRH-HIV prevention into the school curriculum.
“All media houses should join us to advocate so that we can achieve our aims, one of which is to get Lagos State government integrate SRH-HIV prevention into the school curriculum to save the rise in health indices of adolescent and young people in the state and Nigeria at large,” he added.
Speaking on sexual related challenges adolescents face, Honorable Aladeyelu Azeez noted that parents prevent their children from accessing sexual information and are ignorant on how to engage their children on sex matters.
“Parents don’t know when to engage their children on sexual discourse, some don’t even know the right age the child must attain before they begin to discuss this sensitive matter. So how do we solve the problem? The problem can only be solved through social engagement, community dialogue, and massive education of parents” he said.
The event was sponsored by AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC).
