No sex-ed action with schoolgirl pregnancies at 27 daily

PREGNANCIES Among Panamanian school girls aged 10 to 19 have been running at an average oof over27  a day with 1,782  births since the start of the year, while opposition to sexual education in schools continues.

The data comes  from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and does not include births in private hospitals.

Against this backdrop, both the members of the Panamanian Alliance for Life and the Family Association and the Panamanian Family Planning Association say  that the issue is seen as a “serious” public health problem and urges that it be addressed.

Rossana Uribe, president of the Panamanian Association for Family Planning (Aplafa), an organization that has been in favor of sex education guides, noted That there is a “stagnation” in airing the subject.

She  recalled that in  September last year, the Education Ministry (Meduca) created a commission to d develop  a “pedagogical tool” to guide the topic; but what the progress has been is unknown.”We are not doing any work,” she said.

Abstinence
Luis Sagel, a member of the Panamanian Alliance for Life and Family, which recently staged a  church supported march against sex education calls for abstinence to prevent unwanted pregnancies in adolescents, and expects further action by the authorities to address the issue.

Sagel said that Bill 61, which seeks to adopt public education policies for comprehensive health care and promotion, is stalled in the National Assembly awaiting a second debate.

Both activists agreed that the issue cannot continue to be delayed and called on Meduca as well as Deputies to convene a dialogue.

Meduca’s position reports La Prensa is that they will not give further details until it has well defined, the sex education guidelines.