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Sex Education in Panama's Schools, Teen Pregnancy, and the Law


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Teacher guidelines on sex education upcoming

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SEX EDUCATION   guidelines  for teachers in Panama schools  should be ready in two or three months  says Deputy Minister of Education, Carlos Staff.

 His statement came following  concerns expressed by  the Asociación de Padres de Familia (Parents’ Association) over lack of reporting on progress.

Karina Herrera, president of the  Association, said that at the beginning of the year the subject had been resumed, but now had gone back to sleep, because they have not been made  aware of what is being done with the sexuality guides.

 Staff said there have been  administrative problems, such as work force  contractions, but that these will be corrected in a week, so the guidelines should be ready in August or September  and the  “training of teachers can begin,” he said.

The introduction of sex education in public schools has faced strong opposition from church groups.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/teacher-guidelines-sex-education-upcoming

 

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No sex-ed action with schoolgirl pregnancies at 27 daily

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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.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/no-sex-ed-action-schoolgirl-pregnancies-27-daily

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While I am a big advocate of education, I think "teaching abstinence" will do very little.  The hormones of teens are popping all over the place at this age and experimentation will happen.  Think back to your high school years.  Teaching about birth control I think would be slightly more beneficial.  27 pregnancies a day, wow!!!!!

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Another big increase this year in the number of teen pregnancies in Panama.

The 'Raging Hormones' team scored 9,086 times while the 'Sex Education' side was shut out.

Teenage pregnancy increases in Panama

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The Ministry of Health published that between January and November of this year there were 9,086 pregnancy cases in people between 10 and 19 years of age, which represents an increase in teenage pregnancy in the country.

The figure reflects an increase of 859 cases (10.4%) compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, Panama is the province with the highest incidence (3,883 cases), followed by the regions of Ngäbe Buglé (1,133) and Chiriquí (1,106).

The remaining cases are distributed among the other provinces.

The data does not include the reports of young pregnant women seeking medical care in the Social Security Fund or in the country’s private clinics.

http://www.panamatoday.com/panama/teenage-pregnancy-increases-panama-5955

 

Edited by Keith Woolford
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Minor pregnancies up 10.4% as lawmakers dither

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PREGNANCIES  among Panamanian girls aged from 10 to  19 years old reached 9,086  in  the first 11 months of the year according to the Ministry of Health (Minsa) while a bill dealing with sex education in schools remains stalled in a National Assembly committee

The figure reflects an increase of 859 cases or 10.4% compared to the same period last year when 8,227 teenage pregnancies were reported.

Panama is the province with the highest incidence (3,883)  followed by the Ngäbe Buglé (1,133) and Chiriqui (1,106).

The remaining 2,964 cases are distributed among the other provinces.

Minsa data does not include the reports of pregnant young women seeking care in the Social Security system (CSS )or in private clinics in the country. The Dr Arnulfo Arias Madrid CSS hospital  alone  in Panama City minors dealt with 319 minors in the first 1o months of 2017.

The Ministry of Education created an  inter-institutional  commission in September 2016 in order to select  information to create a “pedagogical instrument” that addresses the particularities of each age group in Panama’s education system

However, a year has passed and few advances are known, reports La Prensa.

In addition, in January of this year, the members of the Work, Health and Development Commission of the National Assembly decided to suspend the discussion of Bill 61, to adopt public policies of integral education, attention and health promotion.

At the time it was reported that the objective was to reach consensus outside the commission, for later resumption of the discussion.

For Rossana Uribe, president of the Panamanian Association for Family Planning (Aplafa), the situation is due to the fact that there are no public campaigns aimed at young people to treat the subject.

Aplafa began a social media campaign in which young people can ask for advice and help because the State does not provide them with the necessary tools on the topic of sex education.

Churches are strongly opposed to sex education in the school system

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/minor-pregnancies-10-4-lawmakers-dither

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Child rights group demands sex-ed action

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WHILE  a draft law on sex education sits s frozen in the  National Assembly The Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended wide ranging changes to current rules.

Among its recommendations are the decriminalizing of abortion; to guarantee adolescents’ access to economic contraceptives.  and to restart the dialogue on sexual and reproductive health legislation.

The committee is composed of five independent experts whose job is to supervise the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Panama in 1990.

“The Committee is concerned about the suspension of the debate in the National Assembly of Bill 61, which calls for policies of integral education, care and health promotion, especially regarding sexual and reproductive health, “says a newly released document.

The text emphasizes the experts’ concern that girls under the age of 19 represent 18.7% of pregnancies reported in 2016. It also highlights the high dropout rates of pregnant children, the high number of those with venereal diseases and the lack of receptive health services for teenagers.

The discussion about sexual health, especially when it comes to minors, becomes quickly a debate of religious beliefs in Panama. Many say that sex education must be given at home.

Dr Orlando Quintero, director of the Health and Dignity Foundation of people affected by HIV / AIDS questions this thinking. “Unfortunately there is a mentality that talking about sexuality encourages young people to have sex. which is absurd. Who has the information, has the power. I’m not talking about being able to have sex, but the power to say No, “said Quintero.

“They think that their children are saints, and then young people do not dare to say anything for fear that they get beaten. They do not say anything, but they still have sex, infecting more people, “he said. He felt that young people should be able to get tested for HIV without their parents, but that all treatment must be executed with their knowledge, consent and participation since they are those responsible for the health of their children.

Quintero estimates that more than 90% of Panamanian homes lack adequate orientation and education

on sexual and reproductive health issues.  He supports the recommendation of the report to promote the legislation but is firmly against abortion.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/child-rights-group-demands-sex-ed-action

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OPINION: Panama’s urgent need for sex education

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Chiriqui schoolgirls
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In the year 2017, there was a decrease of 386 cases of teenage pregnancies, compared to the previous year. Each of the 9,912 adolescents who became pregnant that year represented a serious challenge in health, education, housing, food and human development. In the first months of this year, 1,738 cases of teenage pregnancies have been registered by the public health system, that is, 166 cases more than last year.

An early pregnancy, possibly the product of a sexual assault or an unplanned relationship, is a direct threat to the well-being of adolescent girls and to the development of the whole country. Sexual education should be the guiding star of public policy.

Parents, teachers and teachers, children and adolescents, and health personnel must be active agents of a responsible sex education model. It is not possible for us to continue ignoring the cost in personal and family pain that these pregnancies cause, and the aggressions that victimize children and adolescents. More sex education means more health and dignity for all Panamanians. … LA PRENSA. hoyporhoy, Mar.27.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/opinion-panamas-urgent-need-for-sex-education

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Sex education guides delayed student pregnancies climb

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After two years, guides for the teaching of sex education in Panama schools, are still being reviewed by government authorities and NGO’s but are subject to constant delays while the number of teen, and younger, pregnancies continues to soar.

“It is desired that the sexuality education information offered to students be scientific, objective, with ethical and moral values, but above all, with the responsibility to avoid early pregnancies, and to mental health and values,” Carlos Staff, Deputy Minister of Education.  Told El Siglo. Meanwhile, according to Staff teachers will continue with the training meetings in the schools

Karina Herrera, secretary of the Association of Parents and Family, said  that they only know that the texts are ready, and it only it is necessary to edit it to be presented in the middle of the first trimester of the year 2019 but  said that at no time were they presented to the parents We only know that there is a ‘Parent Guide’ and that they are meant to be taught in the primary and secondary grades.

“It is not going to be possible for the authorities to implement the guidelines in 2018 school year  because  some schools in the capital city have been chosen to be dormitories for foreigners who come to participate in World Youth Day.”, she said.

She said that The  Ministry of Education has only been dedicated to parents to resolve student pregnancies and not the serious complaints of sexual abuse of teachers against students.

The lack of consultations over sex education has generated disagreement between the church and various groups of civil society.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/sex-education-guides-delayed-student-pregnancies-climb

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6,090 schoolkid pregnancies in first semester

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A total of 6,090 Panama school children  aged 10 to 19 years-of-age entered prenatal care, in the first semester of 2018 reports the Ministry of Health (Minsa),

The increase of 308  over the same period last year does not include cases in private hospitals or the Social Security  system (CSS) hospitals says the Ministry.

Highest incidence
The report lists cases in the Ngäbe Buglé (1,953), San Miguelito (1,022)and Chiriquí (924) as the regions with the highest incidence of  pregnancies .

Rubiela Sánchez, sociologist and member of the Panamanian Coalition for Integral Education in Sexuality, said that the figures show the need for public prevention policies.In the last 10 years the entire state apparatus, and health institutions of  has “failed” in this task, like society, which is indifferent before the facts she said.

Luis Sagel, of the Panamanian Alliance for Life and Family, said that education and prevention actions, are but  “there has been no attitudinal policy “to address the issue.

In recent years, a debate has been reported in the country on the subject of sexual education in schools but it has been blocked by the Catholic Church which is able to call thousands of people to the streets to oppose changes.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/6090-schoolkid-pregnancies-in-first-semester

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Sex education blocked  as child pregnancies soar

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Posted 16/02/2019
 
Pregnancies among Panama aged 10-19 years continue to climb with a total of 10,405 entering pre-natal control facilities of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) in 2018. An increase of 528 over 2017 when  9,912 were registered as pregnant. The figures do not include admissions to Social Security or private hospitals.

The Minsa report document specifies that the Ngäbe Buglé (1,872), San Miguelito (1,752) and Chiriquí (1,584) regions are the areas of the country with the highest incidence of pregnancies.

From 2014 to 2018 there were 53,361 pregnancies. The social problem continues to grow while the National Assembly dithers in spite of Pope Francis’s admonition of the need for sex education. Bill 61 which seeks to adopt public policies on integral education, health care and promotion, but has been sitting in the doldrums since 2014

Members of the Panamanian Coalition for Integral Education in Sexuality, the Panamanian Alliance for Life and the Family and the Panamanian Association for Family Planning regret that the proposal is was not approved, as a consensus was achieved after a series of meetings and changes to the legislative initiative.

Sex education is a need of the young population and this is what Pope Francis said during his visit to Panama the country for the World Youth Day. In his opinion, "the ideal is to start at home", but since this is not always possible, the "school has to supply it".

The legislative initiative was approved in the first debate in April of 2017 in the Commission of Integral Education, Attention and Promotion of the Health and recommended to the plenary session of the National Assembly for its discussion and approval in the second debate, but to date, it has not been retaken.

Since 2008, sex education has been subject to intense controversy three times in the country, since the presentation to the National Assembly of different bills that sought to adopt public policies related to inherent in the subject.

Debauchery
In  2008, a project proposed by the Minsa was rejected, because religious and civil society groups claimed that it incited youth to debauchery.

Three years later, in 2011, Democratic Change deputy party Marylín Vallarino interposed a new initiative, but it was stymied.

According to the sociologist and member of the Panamanian Coalition for Integral Education in Sexuality, Rubiela Sánchez, the legislative initiatives have not prospered, because the authorities govern based on their prejudices and beliefs, and not with a vision of a State based on human rights.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/sex-education-blocked-as-child-pregnancies-soar

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Sexed stymied as school  pregnancies soar

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Posted 25/02/2019
 
As teen pregnancies in Panama continue at over 10,000 moves to introduce sex-education in schools remain stymied, largely due to opposition from religious groups.

Comprehensive sexuality education guides, in the works, since 2016 are still in the “final review” stage by the National Directorate of Curriculum and Technology of the Ministry of Education (Meduca) says, as Luz María Córdoba, Director of Psychoeducational Services.

However, they must also be validated by all the player involved in the matter, including the Psychoeducational Services, the Inter-institutional Commission for the Development of the Strategy on Education in Sexuality, organized civil society, teachers, and parents, among others.

The guides, which were prepared by a Panamanian consulting company, are aimed at elementary, middle and high school students, but there is still no precise date for their implementation since they also need to train staff in the use of this didactic tool, Cordoba told La Prensa.

The history of this document began in September 2016, when an inter-institutional commission was formed, led by The Ministry of Education (Meduca) and involving by seven other entities, which worked on the selection of information on reproductive and sexual health, to create a "pedagogical instrument" that attends to the particularities of each school-age group..

After over a year of the work, the commission delivered the data last year to the consultant, to prepare the final document.

With the new guidelines, the MinistryMeduca completely discarded the guides prepared in 2015 in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund, at a cost of $25,000.

The sexuality guides, discussed in June 2016, were based on five thematic axes: sexuality; rights and citizenship; sexuality and gender; interpersonal relations and communication, and development of sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, including the prevention of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Rejection 
The guides were immediately rejected by several sectors.

Juan Francisco de la Guardia, member of the Panamanian Alliance for Life and Family, said that there is a good disposition by the Ministry for the guides to be consensual, and for that reason, they have been allowed to make suggestions

He said that when the entire process of revision and correction is completed, the country may have complete sexuality guidelines.

Rubiela Sánchez, of the Panamanian Coalition for Integral Education in Sexuality, said assured that they have not been consulted on the subject.

She said that the guidelines should have been implemented since 2016, but the lack of political will led to their failure to materialize.

For Sanchez, these guides are necessary because they will become a pedagogical tool so that children and adolescents are able to identify any proposal loaded with abuse, any request for friendship in social networks of a pedophile, and insurance with sex education will postpone the start of sexual relations.

She said aspects such as pregnancies in young people are a pending debt of the government because in recent years the numbers of pregnancies among girls from 10 to 19 years of age are dramatically increasing.

At least 10.000 girls thousand women between 10 and 19 years old enter the facilities of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) every year for prenatal care, representing a figure that represents 30% of the total number of pregnancies reported annually in the country and does not include those who gave birth in CSS  or private hospitals.

In  2018 there were 10,440  pregnancies of girls and adolescents under control, that is, 528 more cases than in 2017

When adding the pregnancies of girls and adolescents between 10 to 19 years old from 2014 and up to last year, the number of cases amounts to 53,361, according to Minsa.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/sexed-stymied-as-school-pregnancies-soar-1

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29  Panama Teens Become Pregnant Each  Day

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Posted 16/06/2019

While entrenched conservative and church groups continue to fight sex education in Panama’s schools An average of 29 girls between 10 and 19 years old get pregnant daily in the country, according to prenatal control figures from the  Ministry of Health  (Minsa).

The statistics show that between 2014 and May this year there were over 58,000, pregnancies in girls and adolescents not including. those The figure does not include the population that received attention in the  Social Security Fund or in private clinics.

The number  in prenatal care this year is  4,660, according to the latest Ministry of health   figures The statistical reports of the institution, show that  approximately 10,000  girls and adolescents between 10 and 19 years old enter each year for prenatal care, representing a figure that represents 30% of the total number of pregnancies registered annually.

In 2018 there were 10,440 pregnancies of girls and adolescents under control,, 528 more cases than in 2017, when the figure rose to 9, 912. These figures do not include the reports of the Social Security Fund or private clinics.

Until May this year, 4,660 young people between 10 and 19 years of age entered in search of prenatal care.

José Manuel Pérez, the representative in Panama of the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa), said that the State has to design comprehensive policies and programs that address the needs of this population group.

For this, he said, comprehensive sexual health education programs should be available to prepare adolescents in life skills and informed decision-making, as well as expand adolescent-friendly health services.

He said that it is essential that public schools have comprehensive sexual health education programs that allow young to people to acquire accurate, scientific and adequate information.

Pregnancies in girls and adolescents are a structural factor of poverty, as they occur among the least wealthy sectors of a country, he said.

The situation in Panama is disturbing, since it is the third  in Central America with the highest rate of adolescent fertility (births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19) in the period from 2010 to 2015, according to a report from the  World Health Organization (WHO)  

The  approach to comprehensive sexual education in Panama is a subject that generates controversy

 José Manuel Pérez, the representative in Panama of the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa), said that the State has to design comprehensive policies and programs that address the needs of this population group.

 He said that it is essential that public schools have comprehensive sexual health education programs that allow young people to acquire accurate, scientific and adequate information.

Pregnancies in girls and adolescents are a structural factor of poverty, as they occur among the least wealthy sectors of a country, he said.

 Panama is  the third country in Central America with the highest rate of adolescent births according to a report from the  World Health Organization (WHO)  

Controversy
The approach to sexual education in Panama is a subject that generates controversy.

There have been several unsuccessful attempts to create legislation to adopt public policies on integral education, health care, and promotion.

In 2008, the first project proposed by the Minsa came to the Assembly, but it was rejected because religious and civil society groups claimed that it incited youth to debauchery. Three years later,  a new initiative, was presented but failed. In August 2014, a  proposal arrived from PRD  Deputy   Crispiano Adames, met  the same fate  as churches corralled  their flocks into  a great march against the legislative initiative

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/29-panama-teens-become-pregnant-each-day

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OPINION: Ignorance and fanaticism block sex-ed

Posted 28/07/2019

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a major threat to the health of Panamanians. According to the Joint United Nations Program for HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), Panama had a small reduction in the number of new infections between 2010 and 2018, falling from 1,400 new infected to 1,300. According to the report, the group that had the greatest reduction was that of men older than 15 years. However, the country would have been able to do much more and improve its indicators, if a sexual and reproductive health education plan had been implemented.

The double standards, distastefulness and even religious fanaticism caused the country to have a lost decade in terms of sexual and reproductive health, since both at the level of the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education, the obscurantism campaigned defeating two initiatives to educate our young people.

 The number of infected people is just an initial indicator that must be followed with great care, because it is very easy for the trend to be reversed if there is not  greater medical-sanitary control, if the preventive tools are overcrowded and if a negligent  attitude persists. Although AIDS is not a death sentence, it requires medical attention and a constant supply of drugs. It is not fair to continue losing the quality of life of young people because of ignorance and fanaticism.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-ignorance-and-fanaticism-block-sex-ed

 

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Fractional fall in Panama schoolgirl pregnancies

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Posted 02/10/2019

A Health Ministry program  has contributed to  a fractional fall in pregnancies of teens  between 15 and 19. They were reduced by 9.4% (408) when comparing 2013  the year of the first measurement with 2017.

This was reported by the  Ministry of Health (Minsa) and the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa, for its acronym in English) –which offers technical advice–, detailing that in 2013 there were 14,981 pregnancies in young people and five years later, 13, 573.

The coordinator of the Minsa's Childhood and Adolescence Program, Yamilette Rivera , said that the  percentage variation is due to the Adolescent Friendly Health Services (SSAA) program.

"It is a program that works in 70 health facilities in Minsa and in two in the Social Security Fund, with the support of 878 health professionals," Rivera said.

The program has served 280, 803 young people.

Although the numbers are encouraging, Rivera is aware that Panama is the third country in Central America with the highest fertility rate in adolescents (births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years) in from 2010 to 2015, according to a report from the   World Health Organization (WHO) published in February.

The list of the region is headed by Nicaragua, with a rate of 92.8, followed by Guatemala (84) and Panama (78.5).

Unfpa official, Edilma Berrios, stressed that the SSAA program works with families and health workers to provide quality care to adolescents.

She said that the reduction of pregnancies in young people,  is more than a figure, it  represents a group that will not drop out of school.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/fractional-fall-in-panama-schoolgirl-pregnancies

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Fanaticism vs sex-ed as teen pregnancies soar

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Posted 01/03/2020

IN PANAMA we have a serious and growing problem with pregnant girls and adolescents because governments echo fanaticism and absurd dogmas that prevent our youth from receiving an adequate sexual education.

Thus, before the indolent gaze of officials and parents, every year, thousands of teenagers see their future unfold in their ignorance and, surely, that of the baby on the way.

What can an uneducated teenager do to feed a baby in her arms? What can she do to guarantee a promising future? Where will the livelihood of mother and child  come from? The circle of poverty - that governments intend to fight with subsidies - is enlarged and deepened with every pregnant teenager. This reality is the purest expression of hypocrisy. No allowance repairs the damage of a stolen childhood or compensates for the illusions left behind in the face of an unplanned pregnancy.

Governments are responsible for our youth having the opportunity to move forward, even over a collective irresponsibility that denies their right to access an education that guarantees their right to make informed decisions.- LA PRENSA.  Mar 1

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/fanaticism-vs-sex-ed-as-teen-pregnancies-soar

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Pilot sex-ed program to cimbat 52 child prehancies a day

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Posted 05/03/2020

A pilot sex education project will be launched in Panama schools at the end of  March. After a five-year battle against entrenched religious groups blind to the 52 pregnancies a day schoolgirls aged 10-19 years

For more than five years, the Health and Education authorities have tried unsuccessfully to bring the Sexual Education Guidelines to classrooms, but the project has not been able to reach its goal because it has not received support from the deputies due to pressures from religious groups, which disqualified the guides.

This year the authorities have brought the issue back to the table. and d  a pilot plan aimed at middle and pre-middle school students, which is intended to be launched in public schools at the end of March. 
Professor Fernando Ábrego, from the Association of Teachers of Panama (Asoprof), explains that the guides are divided into two, their content and the application addressed to students, parents, and teachers. 

Until recently, the content of the Sexual Education Guides was known by most of the teachers' unions, after a consensus was reached between both parties, those who are in favor and those who are against it,"  he told El Siglo 

In the bilateral table meetings, the teachers have requested the document several times, without receiving answers from the Ministry of Education. According to Ábrego, they have only known the opinions of parents, a situation he considers a mistake.

We are the ones who are going to apply the contents, if there is a secrecy, we will be quite slow, " he says. 

Ábrego believes that this document alone is not the solution to the problem that is being experienced in the country, but the awareness that the Panamanian population may have. 

" It is said a lot that education begins at home and that it is reinforced in the classroom. But if at home there is no follow-up on what is learned in class and you do not talk openly with the sexuality boys, you will not see the results; we have to lower the figures and not only of pregnancies also of minors with sexually transmitted diseases, "he says. 

He adds that the objective of the society is not to see children raising children and that "the guides are a text that must be read, understood and explained."  

Sociologist Marcos Gandásegui believes that today's society is focused on young women being professionals before having children, unlike other times when youth pregnancies were common among families. 

In relation to the pilot plan, Gandásegui points out that they are necessary because boys and girls now do not think the same as before and should be well oriented, especially respecting equality between genders. 

 


https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/pilot-sex-ed-program-to-cimbat-52-child-prehancies-a-day

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Adolecent pregnancies soar in first quater

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Posted 05/07/2020

Pregnancies among adolescents aged 10-19 years reached 2,652 from January through March this year a figure already 50% of the total recorded for the previous year. 

Chiriquí province reported, 342 pregnant adolescents. The first three months is followed by Panamá Oeste with 312, and in third position Panamá Metro with 306. cases.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/adolecent-pregnancies-soar-in-first-quater

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OPINION: Sex-Ed vs  Reelection

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Posted 01/09/2020

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

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-sex-ed-vs-reelection

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Sex-ed on backburner as child pregnancies  near 61,000

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Posted 06/09/2020

While religious  groups continue to battle sex education in schools At least  30% of all pregnancies  in Panama are adolescents., From January to March,  this year the Ministry of Health (Minsa) registered 2,652 pregnancies of girls and young women aged from 10 to 19. The figure does not include the CSS and private hospitals and other facilities.

 Over the last six years 60,665 girls and young people in the same age group  were admitted for pregnancy control.

Another reality that young people face are sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as chlamydia - an infection caused by the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis.

Failed attempts
Since 2008, sex education has been the subject of intense controversy three times in the country, after the presentation to the National Assembly of different bills that sought to adopt public policies inherent to the subject.

In 2008, a project proposed by the Minsa was rejected, because religious groups and civil society alleged that it incited youth to debauchery.

Three years later, in 2011, the CD deputy, Marylín Vallarino, filed a new initiative, which did not advance .

The third and last legislative initiative was Bill 61, approved in the first debate in April 2017 in the Committee on Labor, Health and Social Development also died on the vine.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/sex-ed-on-backburner-as-child-pregnancies-near-61000

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OPINION: Perfect Medieval Men

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Skulls of mistreatreated Medieval womwn

Posted 29/09/2020

The number of pregnancies for girls ages 10 to 19-year-olds is a disgrace. Between 2007 and 2018, almost 170 thousand births of women of those ages were registered in the country, that is, an average of almost 1,300 births per month to adolescent mothers. Of that number, just over 4% are mothers between the ages of 10 and 14. And, to add insult to injury, abortion - many of them clandestine - was the fourth leading cause of death in 2018 among mothers, including girls and adolescents. This alternative to ending an unwanted pregnancy is used by many adolescents who put their lives at risk in clinics of dubious medical quality to carry out these procedures. The alarming figures do not even blink at those who prevent the State from providing our youth with sexual and reproductive education, although it is your direct responsibility. Governments have been genuflecting when it comes to assuming their role, as the authorities in turn fear to pay a political cost, a cowardly attitude that condemns thousands of adolescents to a life of hardship and deprivation since they are even required to abandon their formal education. We are, in this matter, perfect medieval men.-LA PRENSA, Sep 29
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-perfect-medieval-men

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El embarazo adolescente o no intencional, y el rol del Estado

Para Maruquel Castroverde, lo más grave es el desentendimiento tácito que se tiene desde las políticas del Estado frente a la educación integral en sexualidad. ‘Nos falta mucho todavía por comprender que son personas, sujetos de derechos y eso incluye el derecho de la niña y el niño a informarse para su protección’, remarcó Esmeralda de Troitiño.
 
Cecilia Fonseca S.
06 oct 2020 - 12:00 AM

 

Moderator comment: Below is an unedited automated translation of the above news article.

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Adolescent or unintentional pregnancy, and the role of the State

For Maruquel Castroverde, the most serious thing is the tacit misunderstanding that exists from the State's policies regarding comprehensive sexuality education. "We still have a long way to go to understand that they are people, subjects of rights and that includes the right of the girl and boy to be informed for their protection," said Esmeralda de Troitiño.
 
Cecilia Fonseca S.
06 Oct 2020 - 12:00 AM

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According to the United Nations Population Fund, there is an important association with sexual coercion, with forced sex, in the increase of pregnancies in girls under 15 years of age. In 2018, 522 pregnancies were registered in girls aged 10 to 14, illustrative image. My Diary / Archive

When a minor becomes pregnant, criticism focuses on her and, without stopping to think about her age, in the circumstances, society labels her; men and women alike point to the girl, and even claim that she knew what she was doing.

And it is not about ignoring what happens. The figures are so alarming that the race to try to stop the spiral of vulnerability of these child-mothers and ensure that the economic growth of Panama is accompanied by human development is today against the clock: 169,401 live births of women between 10 and 19 years old between 2007 and 2018, of which 6,993 were girls ages 10 to 14.

In 2018 alone, there were 522 girls under the age of 15 pregnant and although the 2019 figures are not yet available, experts in the field project that this number will double.

With the statistics available, we are talking about an average of 14,116 girls and adolescents who, per year, have seen their formal education interrupted or affected and, therefore, have reduced their future possibilities of accessing a decent job and having better quality of life. A vicious circle from which, in addition, the unplanned child will have difficulties to get out.

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The Guttmacher Institute says that in Latin America and the Caribbean 65% of pregnancy in girls under the age of 19 is unintended, the highest in the world. File / Illustrative photo

Where is the problem? How do we get to this point?

"Saying that pregnant adolescents know what they are doing is a systemic problem that we have to attack with education and visibility," warned María Inés Castillo de Sanmartín, Minister of Social Development during a discussion organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA on the subject of World Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day.

"If they know so much, why do they have unprotected sex?" asked rhetorically Amanda Gabster, a researcher at the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies who specializes in HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

“In order to change future generations, we have to change the ways in which they educate girls, it is mothers who give them the foundations. We have to start working with these mothers who are adolescents today so that they change their way of thinking, so that our society can look to achievements in the medium and long term, "reflected Yamilette Rivera, national coordinator of the Childhood and Adolescence Program of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), who also highlighted the importance of working with community leaders that empower women.

Malena Sáenz, pro tempore coordinator of Aliados por la Niñez y la Adolescencia and executive director of Fundación Valórate summed it up like this: “Definitely, our gaze will go as far as our conscience goes, and conscience up to where knowledge goes, and that knowledge only we are going to achieve it with a comprehensive education that gives children and adolescents that condition of right subjects ”.

Sáenz remarked that what society does not understand is that the negative label that is put on the girl or adolescent is a self-label, because the State has failed to give them protection.

In the end, what the specialists pointed out revolves around education -from home, at school-, and not only comprehensive sexuality, but also that focused on how to have a healthy lifestyle, how to value oneself as a human being and have a life project.

Regional look

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For the period 2000-2017, the United Nations Population Fund has estimated that the specific fertility in girls under 15 years of age (that is, 10 to 14 years old) is between less than 1 to almost 5 per thousand girls in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Alma Camacho Hubner, advisor on Sexual and Reproductive Health at UNFPA for Latin America and the Caribbean, explained - in another webinar on the subject - that adolescent pregnancy in the region is considered an "anomaly in terms of adolescent fertility", because while the global fertility rate has decreased considerably in the region, "the speed of the decline in the adolescent fertility rate has not had the same level of decline", rather, it is "extremely high".

Camacho detailed that the specific fertility rate in adolescents fell from 65.6 in the 2010-2015 period to 60.7 in the 2015-2020 period, a reduction of 7.47%, according to a recent report by the Statistics Division of the System of Nations United. However, she noted that statistics also reveal that there is an increase in fertility in girls under 15 years of age, a fact that should sound the alarm. 

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I think we are assuming that parents have ways of talking and being able to provide that information to adolescents, prevention, pregnancy. We are failing to give them that language that since they haven't received it they don't know how to do it either. "

Melanie Guajardo, United for Children Foundation

He listed as determinants of pregnancy in girls and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean social and economic inequalities: poverty, educational level, lack of access that boys and girls have to information, as well as ethnic, racial and cultural belonging (ser indigenous or Afro-descendant). And all this, she said, has been aggravated by the pandemic because children are forced to stay at home longer and, on many occasions, with people who abuse or mistreat them. As a consequence of this, they are far from the spaces of containment (the school, for example), at the same time that they are exposed more and more and at younger ages to the risks of cell phone use and social networks and, therefore, to sexting , grooming, cyberbullying, gender violence and even sexual harassment.

The expert stated that the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) to address this problem -based on the best scientific evidence- is to work in multicomponent programs, that is, that include comprehensive sexuality education, counseling and access to contraceptive methods , in addition to other actions at the individual, family and community levels.

Education and rights

However, it is those components that the WHO alludes to that society rejects and in which health authorities and social organizations have not reached consensus in recent years in Panama.

“There are many limitations that depend on the entire environment, because we come from a culture in which it is a taboo to talk about sexuality and these activities [orientation on sexuality and access to contraception measures] are seen as sacrilege. So we [have to] move towards understanding that this is a physiological need written in our primitive brain and begin to improve our regulation so that adolescents can access these services - guided by a specialist - and that they are provided sex education based on rights ”, pointed out the coordinator of the Minsa Childhood and Adolescence Program, pointing out that in the country the law only allows access to contraceptives to minors from the age of 14 and only with the consent of the guardian, that the minor must be 16 years to access only these services and even at this age, when they go to health facilities, everything is done secretly, as if it were a crime, due to the attitude of adults.

Carlos Pavel, clinical psychologist of children and adolescents, director of the Links Program of the Creative Space Foundation and member of the Masculinity for Equity group, described the pregnancy figures as an individual, family and collective tragedy, due to the implications they have for the future, and he was alarmed by the naturalization of sexual violence perpetrated by men close to minors. "There is a debt of more than 20 years in terms of comprehensive sexuality education, which would be one of the components that would allow girls to identify situations of violence," he said.

Regarding this aspect, the researcher Gabster stressed that there is a way to give sex education, through a comprehensive health education offered at school. "Sexuality is a component of health but there are many other interrelated issues [...] if we give an education in health in general, where there is a subject in which the boys learn about mental health, physical education, sexuality we could get a little bit further […] what we all want is for adolescents to make informed decisions and that is also done through a multifaceted approach, broader than sexual health ”, he explained.

The discussion on adolescent pregnancy fostered by UNFPA during the last days deeply addressed the importance of seeing the child as a subject of rights and the role that the State is ceasing to play despite being obliged to guarantee their rights and to put the interest superior of the child ahead in any action or decision that involves him. And an element put on the table by one of the specialists, which is related to this, is that 60% of unintentional or adolescent pregnancies are not of other adolescents, but of men who take those minors five and 10 to them years.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child - ratified by Law 15 of 1990 - obliges Panama to establish policies for the protection of minors, including to prevent sexual abuse or violence.

In addition, in matters of sexual and reproductive health, in 2003, during the 33rd session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child –which assesses progress in compliance with the Convention-, General Comment # 4 was issued, regarding the adolescent health and development. Among other things, it states that "in light of Articles 3, 17 and 24 of the Convention, States Parties should provide adolescents with access to sexual and reproductive information, including family planning and the contraceptives, the dangers of early pregnancy, the prevention of HIV / AIDS and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In addition, States Parties should guarantee access to adequate information, regardless of their marital status and status. whether or not they have the consent of their parents or guardians [...].

For the pro tempore coordinator of Aliados por la Niñez y la Adolescencia, part of the problem is that we are facing relatively new rights and the current generation is assimilating these paradigms, although, she says, this does not exempt it from responsibility. “We will only have rapprochement if we consider them [children and adolescents] part of this proposal. And do the monitoring to know what is working and what is not, do quick surveys, in an effective way to be able to identify where there is access to prevention methods; and it has to be accompanied by awareness, different actors have to sit down so as not to have the polarization of the different paradigms ”.

Maruquel Castroverde, Secretary of Human Rights, Access to Justice and Gender of the National Attorney General's Office, stated that for her the most serious thing is the tacit lack of understanding that exists from the State's policies towards comprehensive sexuality education, which has a component very important counseling and access to contraceptives. Then, she said, she is extremely concerned that the whole message emphasizes the responsibility that is endorsed on girls and adolescents, without doing the same with boys. "It is still the girl who suffers the punishment, who is responsible because she became pregnant, and who is forced to motherhood."

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I would not dare to break the silence when I know that I am going to receive those questions being a victim [...] these expressions come from a patriarchal, endogenous, macho, autocentric look and perspective, which as long as we do not question in parallel it will continue to perpetuate " .

Carlos Pavel, Masculinity for Equity collective

Castroverde alluded to the appropriateness of referring to pregnancies in girls and adolescents as unintentional pregnancies, because underneath the unintentional is the vice of consent, the flagrant violation of their human right to decide even at a time when they still cannot. decide. "If [the girl or adolescent] cannot decide to have a sexual relationship with responsibility and maturity and assume the consequences, nobody can decide to be a mother for her, but that is happening and maternity wards are forced," he warned.

The most recent study by the Guttmacher Institute says that in Latin America and the Caribbean 65% of pregnancy in girls under 19 years of age is unintentional and, in addition, it is the highest in the world because in other regions they have 20%, the 15% and 10%. That 65% is expressed in more than 2 million girls who have reported that their pregnancy was unintended.

Castroverde also questioned that, regardless of the age of the woman, the transition towards making effective the right to effective judicial protection in cases of sexual violence or abuse is highly revictimizing, since the questioning is about her, about her credibility as a witness of position par excellence, because she was the one who experienced the situation, and during the process, sometimes after several years, she is forced to relate what happened, with details and without inconsistencies, so that then they believe her.

The commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, drew attention to how in Panama there is still discussion about the decision to educate, to report on a topic as human as the development of sexuality. "And I raise it a little with the concern of what movements represent that question this right that boys, girls and adolescents have to this part of their humanity for the protection of their health and the protection of their lives," she said.

And this is connected, De Troitiño added, with the questioning that we have to make of the responsibility of the State to generate a public policy for the protection of children with a human rights approach. “We still have a long way to go to understand that they are people, subjects of rights and that as subjects of rights our responsibility as an adult society is to achieve that full development of their personality […] and that includes the right of the girl and boy to be informed in order to their protection ”.

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/el-embarazo-adolescente-o-no-intencional-y-el-rol-del-estado-2/

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Panama training sexuality instructors for schools

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Posted 28/03/2021

Panama’s introduction to Sexed  begins the first week of April,  with the virtual training of the guides on sexuality and affectivity o facilitators from 12 educational regions of the country, after government sectors and civil society validated the documents, reports the  Ministry of Education (Meduca)

The training will begin with 400 facilitators from the technical teams of the Psychopedagogical Cabinets and, later, will have about 600 teachers from the educational regions.

The pedagogical proposal consists of five didactic guides aimed at parents, for the orientation and training in matters of education in sexuality and affectivity of their children; students of general basic education of primary (1 ° -6 °), pre-secondary (7 ° - 9 °) and middle (10 ° - 12 °), and a guide aimed at pregnant adolescents, adolescent mothers, and their fathers, mothers or guardians.

The history of these guides dates back to September 2016, when an inter-institutional commission led by Meduca and made up of seven other entities was formed, which worked on the selection of information on reproductive and sexual health, to create a "pedagogical instrument" to attend to the particularities of each school-age group.

After more than a year of work, the commission delivered the data to the consultancy in 2018, in order to prepare the final document.

The document was validated by a work team made up of educational authorities, State entities, social organizations, teachers, parents, and the Catholic Church, among others.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/panama-training-sexuality-instructors-for-schools-1

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School program to help identify sexual crimes

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Posted 21/04/2021

In 2019 there were 72,456 live births in Panama, of which 458 were girls under 15 years old and 11,809 adolescents between 15 and 19 years old who became mothers.

These numbers are only the cold reflection of a social phenomenon that is repeated and in which the lack of protection towards girls by their family nucleus comes into play, and by the State, which is unable to move from the letter to the action in regarding the assurance of rights and punishment of the offender reports La Prensa.

The issue, whose genesis is multifactorial, is addressed through an initiative awaiting first debate in the  Labor, Health and Social Development Committee of the National Assembly. It seeks to give the force of law to the teaching of sexual education, materialized today in the country, after years of discussion to reach a consensus, in what is known as the Guides on Sexuality and Affectivity; and go a step further by including the prevention of sexual crimes.

The guidelines began to be developed in 2016 and it was not until the end of 2019 that the consensus document was ready. Then, it took almost a year and a half for it to be announced that the training for facilitators - 400 and virtually - would begin: in April 2021.

The proposal , by Gabriel Silva, Juan Diego Vásquez and Fátima Agrazal, aims to establish the " Education Program for the Prevention of Pregnancies in Minors, Sexually Transmitted Infections and Sexual Crimes ". In it, part of the problem is attributed to the lack of information and ignorance of girls and young people about how to prevent risk situations and how to report them, when they are involved in them.

“The law] seeks to build on the guidelines. The continuity of the obligation and the continuity of sexual education is important; guarantees budget, guarantees hours of training, guarantees topics, ”said Silva, explaining how his proposal is inserted with the steps towards the teaching of sex education that the country has taken with the five guides prepared.

The guides are divided into: one aimed at parents (orientation and training in education in sexuality and affectivity), another for each educational level (primary, pre-secondary and secondary), and one aimed at pregnant adolescents, adolescent mothers and their parents.

According to the initiative, the program to be developed will be based on science, it will not be part of the general curriculum and schools must notify parents or guardians of the dates and topics to be discussed in each class, talk or workshop that organize. It will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Education (Meduca) and the Ministry of Health (Minsa) to establish the curricular design and teacher training, which should not be less than 30 hours to ensure the objectives.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/school-program-to-help-identify-sexual-crimes

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Schoolgirl pregnancies cost Panama $525 million in a year

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Posted 08/10/2021

Teen pregnancies in Panama in 2019 represented a cost to the country of $525 million says a report on socio-economic consequences of teenage pregnancy in Panama , prepared by the  UN Population Fund.

 José Manuel Pérez a representative in Panama of the Population Fund, said that the amount is equivalent to what the State would lose if the Canal stopped working for more than three months. "If measures are not taken, the consequences of not addressing the issue can generate irreversible economic losses," he said

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.

The health cost includes $15.3 million for social loss due to maternal mortality and health care expenses for adolescent pregnancies. Also, on the tax impact, $15 million for foregone income.

In 2019, the Panama Canal Authority transferred $1.824.1 billion to the national treasury. The figure is equivalent to almost $5 million per day of operation of the Canal, said Perez.

Every action to prevent teenage pregnancy is an act to ensure the development and growth of the country. "If measures are not taken, the consequences of not dealing with adolescent pregnancy can generate irreversible economic losses, both for girls and adolescents and for the country as a whole," said Pérez,

The reports presented by Unfpa and the Ministry of Health (Minsa) show alarming figures for teenage pregnancies since the fertility rate for young people between 15 and 19 years of age is 67.2 live births for every 1,000 women.

Statistics from the Comptroller General of the Republic show that in 2019 there were 11,809 live births in adolescent mothers (15 to 19 years old)

The resident coordinator of the United Nations system in Panama, Cristian Munduate, remarked that teenage pregnancy is linked to poverty and the reproduction of social inequalities; at the same time, it reflects situations of sexual violence and abuse, and that early motherhood is linked to the difficulties in creating a protective and stimulating home environment for children.

Last year, according to data from Minsa, 9,724 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 entered prenatal care in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic - at their dependency facilities. There are 5,072 young people more than those who entered control in 2019 when there were 4,652. These statistics do not include the population that received care in the Social Security Fund or in private clinics.

Sex education
Currently, in a National Assembly Committee bill, 657 is under analysis, aiming to establish an education program for the prevention of pregnancies in minors, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual crimes.

The legislative initiative was presented on August 4 by independent deputies Gabriel Silva and Juan Diego Vásquez.

Since 2008, there have been three controversies unleashed in the country around comprehensive sexual education, from the presentation before the National Assembly of different bills that sought, to adopt public policies inherent to the issue reports La Prensa. They have all been stalled by church groups who bring thousand of protestors on the streets.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/schoolgirl-pregnancies-cost-panama-525-million-in-a-year

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Health Minister waffles on sex-ed in schools

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Posted 09/10/2021

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.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/health-minister-waffles-on-sex-ed-in-schools

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