from IRIN
Some of the young people who seek help at the Youth Information and Orientation Centre for Reproductive Health (CIOJ) in N'Djamena, capital of Chad, do not understand how they became pregnant or contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Workers at the centre blame the high levels of ignorance on the failure of parents to talk to their children about sex.
CIOJ was set up by a local non-governmental family welfare organisation, the Chadian Association for Family Well-Being (ASTBEF), to provide young people with a user-friendly family planning, STI and HIV service. The centre is supported by several international partners, including United Nations agencies and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), of which it is a member.
Although principally aimed at youth between the ages of 15 and 24, boys and girls as young as 10 come to the centre in search of information and treatment. "At nine or 10 some young people have already had sexual relations, girls in particular," said Hassane Haoua, a project coordinator at ASTBEF.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
CHAD: Young people desperately seeking sex education
