Health Minister prevaricates on sex-ed in schools

After the publication of a UN report revealing that schoolgirl pregnancies in 2019  cost Panama $525 million Health Minister Health, Luis Francisco Sucre,  said he was in favor of sexual education in schools for young people. “As a doctor and minister, I think so. Our youth and children are living very advanced times, ”he said on Friday, October.

He indicated that in technical and scientific matters “we have to guide them”, especially at an appropriate stage: “not too early, but not too late” reports La Prensa.

However, Minister Sucre said that because it is a “very neuralgic and very sensitive issue” they should sit at the table ” with the church and other organizations to make a decision.

According to Sucre, this issue “is not a sole and exclusive decision of the Ministry of Health.”

Previous attempts at introducing sex-ed to Panama schools have been stymied by opposition from church groups who have used the pulpit to rally opponents.

According to the study Socio-economic consequences of adolescent pregnancy in Panama, prepared by the United Nations Population Fund, adolescent pregnancies that were registered in 2019 represented an economic cost for the country of $525 million.

Of that amount, $495 million correspond to the socioeconomic cost, which includes factors such as the opportunity cost per work activity, the opportunity cost of work income, and the opportunity cost per job.