By Glenda Anderson, Staff ReporterRAMPANT PROMISCUITY among pre-teens and teenagers in Jamaica has again sparked fears among local health officials, of increased risky sexual activities among youngsters.
Ministry of Health figures show that the risk of HIV infections for adolescent females in the age group 10-14 years was twice that for boys in the same group and for those 15-19 years it was three times as high.
Among school age youth, more than 50 per cent of boys in Grades 9-11 have had multiple sex partners beginning as early as 11 years old, with more than 25 per cent admitting to having six or more partners.
Speaking at a public seminar recently, professor of Paediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Celia Christie-Samuels said the problem was further compounded as teenagers were often not making safe and informed sexual decisions, but instead, were exposing themselves to possible infection by sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
The latest Ministry of Health research on condom use among youth, Adolescent Condom Survey in August 2001 revealed that a significant number of those interviewed had multiple sex partners and did not consistently use a condom.
The research, carried out by Hope Enterprises Limited to gauge students' knowledge of safer sex information and condom use, showed that while of a sample of students aged 10-19 years old, "most were aware of sexually transmitted diseases (especially HIV/AIDS) ... Fewer persons knew of gonorrhoea (32 per cent) and syphilis (19 per cent)". In addition, 21 per cent of the group "did not know of any ways to protect against STDs or whether sex with a virgin would get rid of an STD, respectively."
CONDOM USE
But while the majority admitted to a personal risk, "26 per cent had had multiple partners in the past year ...did not consistently use condoms and did not use a condom on the last encounter."
Dr. Christie-Samuels quoted from other Health Ministry data which showed that two out of every five sexually active teenagers had never used a condom, although many were said to have resorted to the "morning after pill".
"Our children are not using condoms but they are using the birth control pills and the morning after pills, but what that means is that they are not getting pregnant but they are getting infected," Dr. Christie-Samuels said. "What we are seeing are persons in the early 20s, fertile, reproductive years with full blown cases (of HIV/AIDS). What this means is that the persons must have been infected in their teens. What it amounts to is that in Jamaica we are having an adolescent risk behaviour problem."
Ministry figures show that the risk of HIV infections for adolescent females in the age group 10-14 years was twice that for boys in the same group and for those 15-19 years it was three times as high.
"The data show that girls in the age group 10-19 years were three times more likely to be infected, but the possibility is that they are having sex with older men who can provide them with money and security," she said.
Cases of young persons who had contracted the disease through incest and rape were also highlighted in the presentation.
This was confirmed in the Hope Enterprise survey which revealed that "all" the respondents of the sample had been coerced into early sex.
FORCED OR TRICKED
"Among those who had already initiated sexual activity, the girls reported that they had all been forced or tricked into having sex first time and this was by someone much older than they were."
Parents and guardians were advised to warn adolescents about common dangerous practices like needle sharing for drugs or ear piercing, anal intercourse, using only birth control pills or morning after pills, tattooing with equipment which were not sterile, use of oil-based lubricants (like petroleum jelly) with condoms, and practising oral sex without condoms.
Persons were also encouraged to talk and listen to their children, and to be creative in teaching their children life skills including decision making, information gathering, goal setting and assertive communication tactics.
