OPINION: Sex-Ed vs  Reelection

The results of a recent study by the Gorgas Institute on the transmission of the sex disease chlamydia trachomatis among students aged 14 to 19 in public schools in Panama, Panama Oeste, Colón and the Ngäbe Buglé region reveal facts of great concern. It was found –for example– that the disease has been present in 1 in 4.5 women and in 1 in 9.1 men. Another finding is that a high percentage of adolescents said they had had previous sexual experiences with three or more individuals, which increased the prevalence among these women to 33.5%. But these numbers reveal something else: our teens lack formal sex education, which makes them ignorant of sexual prevention. The National Assembly remains on the sidelines, as if this issue was not its concern. The deputies choose to do nothing so as not to have to pay the price when it comes to being reelected. They prefer to enact laws to proclaim the day of the sandals or the corn fritter, instead of fulfilling their legal and earthly responsibility, since it is one thing to be an official of a secular state and another, very different, to believe that you are at the service of an ecclesiastical state – LA PRENSA,Sep.1