Census: Belizeans having sex younger than ever
Today was celebrated as World Population Day, but except for a couple of press releases from PAHO, the event passed without much fanfare in Belize. But in the fine print of those documents, facts quoted from the Central Statistical Office, reveal some startling information on adolescent reproductive health and sexual practices. According to the C.S.O., as of July the population of Belize is an estimated two hundred and seventy-three thousand, seven hundred people. From that number, nearly fifty-five thousand are adolescents between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four years. But what’s shocking is that thousands of our young people are engaging in adult practices at a very tender age. The average age of first sexual contact for boys is fifteen, while for girls it’s sixteen years old.
The majority of adolescents claim to know about contraceptives, but only thirty percent of males and nineteen percent of females currently use them. Of that number, sixty-eight percent of young women in Belize say they use contraceptives to prevent pregnancies, while only fifty percent of men make the same claim.
According to Technical Advisor for the Pan American Health Organisation, Sandra Jones, this year’s theme, “One Billion Adolescents: the Right to Health Information and Services” needs to become a code to live by.
Sandra Jones, Technical Advisor, PAHO
“The theme was actually chosen because as the Executive Director of U.N.F.P.A articulated, all young people have a right to health, including reproductive health, and as well as, relevant information and services should be available to them allowing them to make informed decisions that will later on affect their well-being.”
Patrick Jones
“From the Belize perspective, how does the theme apply?”
Sandra Jones
“Well it is very important for us because looking at the statistics that the Central Statistical Office puts out for the press release, it indicated that he first age for sexual intercourse is showing that for males its fifteen and for young girls it is sixteen. In an era with HIV/AIDS and S.T.I., young people are being infected at an alarming rate. In Belize it is showing that the ages between fifteen to forty-nine is the age group that is affected by HIV/AIDS. Within that population, the age group from fifteen to twenty-nine is heavily affected. So basically it is very important. And what it is also showing is that in Belize, and all over the world with HIV/AIDS prevention through education, information and services that are gender sensitive as well as culturally responsive is a matter of life and death.”
As part of World Population Day activities, airing tonight at seven-thirty is a show entitled “Vibes in a World of Sexuality”, a Jamaican production which focuses on the sexual practices of Caribbean adolescents.
