OUR cultural and religious practices can no longer be an excuse for the escalating number of HIV/AIDS in the country, says the President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.
He told teachers at their HIV workshop at the University of the South Pacific's Oceania Centre the matter should be dealt with openly, and not swept under the carpet, given the the growing number of people contracting AIDS.
"I put it to you that this is one area we cannot ignore once we learn the facts," Ratu Epeli said. Speaking at the workshop for developing teachers and the inclusion of reproductive health in the Pacific, he said trained teachers were essential in the move towards a holistic approach to life-skills education. He said the topic of sex or sex education needed to be discussed openly and dealt with from an early age in school. "Therefore the school becomes a link between the home, the society and the church breaking down the barriers considered to be a taboo," he said.
He said teachers could help, expand and strengthen the awareness of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
"Given the alarming rates of 320 cases since October 2009, numbers are now reaching a volatile situation that the country needs to be wary of since the numbers are multiplied by 10 for every single person contracting the disease," he said. Statistics show that nine cases fall in the range of 10-19 years. 'This means that about half of the current reported case cases are within 10-29 years with 90 per cent of these cases within 10-49 age groups," he said.
He said 156 cases were within the 20-29 age category. Out of the 30 new cases, 21 are females and nine males.
"The evidence, the statistics are there-high rates of teenage pregnancies, increasing numbers of sexually transmitted diseases and high numbers of children being sexually abused."
He said figures showed that one out of every three pregnant women under the age of 25 years were suffering from chlamydia. "These are the women who are expected to be carers and nurtures of families, our children and the elderly of society."
School teacher and workshop participant Rachel Mani said the workshop had taught her the tactical approach teachers could use to break the barriers between children, religion and cultural taboos. "I feel it's the right time for the introduction of this subject as a course curriculum in our education system," Ms Mani said.
The main thing she said was to instill confidence in children to allow them to talk openly about sex.