CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background        

Adolescence is the ultimate phase of development, the last stage of the individual during his/her course towards maturity. We call adolescence the evolutionary progress in human life which starts “biologically” with the changes at the physiology of the pubis and completes “psychologically” with the ultimate organization of sexuality (Manolopoulos S, 2004). It covers the period between pubescence, during which the secondary sex characteristics appear and the age of about 18 to 20 years. [konger J, 1905] The term “teenager” is not completely accurate: it may refer to youngsters between 10 and 18 years old. It is therefore preferable to consider that the individual passes successively through adolescent stages (precocious, middle and posterior) instead of classifying all adolescents into the category of “teenagers” (Manolopoulos S, 2004).

The power of education is well-known and generally agreed on by philosophers of ancient Greece to the most recent time. Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai’s quotes emphasizes the ability of education to change individual lives and make the world a better place. Education, one of the four main socialization agents (Curry, Jiobu, Schwirian, 2004) is often used in a targeted manner to address social problems as a vaccine or cure. Such is the case of sexuality awareness education which has been proposed in several countries to address sexual risk behaviours and promote sexual health in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic (UNESCO, 2009) as well as to enable rights to freedom of sexual expression and from repression (UN, 2010). Sexuality awareness education or sex and relationship education has been defined as a curriculum which is used to teach youths about all aspects pertaining to sex, sexual identity, the opposite sex, sexual health, sexual rights and behaviour (Campos, 2002). It aims at developing young people’s ability to make informed choices about their   behaviour, intimate relationships and act with confidence and competence (UNESCO, 2009). In recent years, declarations of, and advocacy for the right to sexuality awareness education has been made internationally by agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund linking sexuality awareness education to fundamental human rights to protection of sexual health, well-being and dignity (UNFPA, 2014). In Cameroon, sexuality education is restricted to HIV /AIDS sensitization and family planning programs which is indeed very narrow. In Central African countries, as in many others, the topic of sex is a sore one, made even more complicated given the country’s characteristic diversity of people and cultures. However, Cameroon, amongst other countries, the issues which pertain to sexual health, sexuality and areas of comprehensive sexuality education are addressed but limited to HIV/AIDS and reproductive health, with little mention to sexual rights and sexual health.

Moran (2000) asserts that institutionalized sex education began with the progressive education movement of the late 19th century in Euro- American nation states, (Adepoju ,2005) agrees on the European origins but contrarily credits what is referred to as the sexual revolution of the1800s and the debate on sexual pleasure to women. According to Moran, women of that period “began agitating for more debates on issues concerning their sexuality” (Adepoju, 2005). Contrary to being established toward off repression or as a progressive movement as outlined above, in sub-Saharan Africa it is agreed that the idea of introducing sexuality into public education came about linked to HIV/AIDS (Heslop and Banda, 2013).The apparent need to inform young people on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and consequences of unprotected sex, in some parts of Africa, notably in Nigeria, sexuality awareness education was introduced as a means to address population growth by putting emphasis on reproduction and family planning. This was a potential vehicle to translate the population policy into action (Adepoju, 2005). Thus, sex education in Africa is seen as a sort of public health strategy recommended by multilateral development organizations. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Eastern and Southern African countries, has resulted in sexuality education being more developed, standardised and accepted in countries like Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa (UNESCO and UNFPA, 2012). These particular countries where targeted for the 2011-2015 UNAIDS strategy which aimed at achieving national comprehensive knowledge about HIV amongst at least 80% of young people in and out of school, including the provision of good quality sexuality education (UNESCO and UNFPA, 2012). Despite their acceptance and progressive attempts towards sexuality awareness education in comparison to countries like Cameroon, which does not have institutionalized sex education, these countries still face problems in practice. Heslop and Banda (2013) note that the successful implementation of sexuality education is impeded by the sparse training of teachers, un-seriousness of lesson delivery, that it is a non-examinable subject, culture and abstinence-focused phrasing. It warns girls to stay away from predatory men and boys, to avoid getting into risky situations, reinforcing ideas that girls are responsible for boys’ sexuality as well as their own (Heslop and Banda, 2013).

In Cameroon, discussions around the institutionalization of sexuality awareness education have been made only in reference to HIV/AIDS sensitization via education. The first affirmative action was taken in January 2007 with an inter-ministerial decree, signed to introduce a programme on Education to Family Life on Population and Prevention of HIV/AIDS. With the aid of UNESCO Cameroon, some 1,896 teachers were trained in HIV/AIDS curriculum (UNAIDS Cameroon, 2008. More recently, government commanded teachers to incorporate some HIV sensitization into their lesson plans no matter what subject they may be teaching (MINEDUB, 2013).

Cameroon ranks 15 the worldwide in terms of HIV/AIDS adult morbidity rate. However, the institutionalization of sex education has not been seen as a priority, but as an option which is a grave oversight. It is worthy to note that Cameroon remains a patriarchal society where men’s control over assets, including control over women, is reinforced by laws and social institutions (Endeley, 2001) and sexual repression of women in particular is a pattern of such societies. (Fei, 2014). In Cameroon, this repression can be seen in everything from a parents refusal to talk about sex and reproduction to their children (Rwenge, 2000), shying from calling sexual organs by their names and replacing the names of the reproductive organs with meaningless words (like ju-ju and tu-tu ). Studies have shown the mean age for first sexual experience as 15.6 for males and 15.8 for females as per research carried out in the Northwest region and an average age of fifteen years recognized nationally (Rwenge, 2000; Engen, 2013). Despite this reality, sex and sexuality is not formally discussed with adolescents. Researchers found that young people discussed sexual topics with their schoolmates and friends more than in family settings or institutions (Rwenge, 2000). This same research however showed that youth received awareness/sensitization of AIDS from school, newspapers, health centres or family, and generally recognized sexual intercourse as the primary medium for infection/transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus. Thus, the system has enabled just enough HIV education for the typical Cameroonian youth to learn about sex as a medium by which they could contract illness but stops short of educating on sexual rights, identity, hygiene, freedom, and contraception; all areas that the UN feels sex education should cover (UNFPA, 2013).

1.2 Problem Statement

Many adolescents in developing countries have an unmet need on the level of knowledge on their sex and sexuality. This unmet need is due to the fact that, topics on sex is considered a taboo, parents shy away from discussing the topics with their children. They do not tell them the right things in the right way as a result these adolescents often get information about sex and sexuality from friends and peers, which is not always discussed in the right way. It is not also included in school curriculum locally in most African countries. Often as a result, adolescents make wrong decisions which can contribute to poor reproductive health. In order to address this issue, efforts have been made by the government of Cameroon and international organizations such as world health organization (WHO), United Nation International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF). However, many of the policies Implemented by Cameroonian and international organizations are not grounded in the socio-cultural and economic context of the population and regions under target. More so there is a great gap in the government policies to target the situation of sex and sexuality awareness education amongst adolescents in Cameroon. As a result, despite some of the sex and sexuality education to improve their knowledge, adolescents still find themselves with unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions sexually transmitted diseases. This is why this research aims at assessing adolescent’s knowledge on sex and sexuality awareness in the Molyko community, Buea.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 General Research Question

What is the knowledge of adolescents (10 – 19 years) on sex and sexuality in the Molyko community?

1.3.2 Specific Research Question

1. What is the level of knowledge of adolescents on sex and sexuality?
2. What are the sources of knowledge concerning sex and sexuality?
3. Who do adolescents think should teach sex education?

1.4 Specific Objectives

1.4.1 General Objective

To assess the knowledge of adolescents (10 – 19 years) on sex and sexuality in the Molyko community

1.4.2 General Objective

1. To determine the knowledge of adolescents on sex and sexuality in Molyko community.
2. To identify the sources of adolescent’s knowledge on sex and sexuality Molyko community.
3. To determine who the adolescents think should teach them sexuality education.