Costa Rica, UN launch
HIV-AIDS prevention program
The Costa Rican government on Tuesday signed an agreement with the
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to
implement a joint program to prevent HIV-AIDS.
The program will focus on youngsters living in Puntarenas and Limon,
two main coastal cities of Costa Rica. Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias attended the signing ceremony. A study on youngsters in the
two cities regarding HIV-AIDS was released during the event.
The study, which was based on a sample of 800 teenagers between 13
and 18 years old from both cities, showed that there is a formidable
lack of knowledge about methods to prevent HIV-AIDS among the young
in the region.
In Limon, 52.5 percent of the youngsters correctly identified ways
the disease can be transmitted, and in Puntarenas only 43.3 percent
could do so.
Only 26.5 percent of the teenagers in Limon and 34.5 percent in
Puntarenas knew of methods to prevent HIV-AIDS, while the UN goal
for 2010 is no less than 90 percent.
The study also showed lack of a favorable attitude in the use of
condoms as a preventive method, as only 27.7 percent of teenagers in
Limon and 18.9 percent in Puntarenas, use condoms in their sexual
relations.
According to the poll, 51.6 percent of the youngsters in Puntarenas
and 59 percent in Limon have had sexual intercourse before the age
of 16, while 24.6 percent in Puntarenas and 6.8 percent in Limon
began their sexual activity at the age of 13.
The results are alarming, as a high incidence of occasional sexual
relations was detected, coordinator of the poll, Marco Fournier
said.
"The problem is not the frequency the youngsters have sexual
relations, but the conditions in which they have them: with little
knowledge, without condoms, one-off relations, and with people older
than they are. And we are worried that 14 percent in Puntarenas said
they even had sexual relations against their will," Fournier said.
He said they collected samples in Limon and Puntarenas because these
two cities have long been suffering from serious social problems.
"The results are worrying. There is a very low knowledge level and
the teenagers barely have 40 percent of the information they need,"
Fournier said.
He said the results of the poll showed the necessity of a radical
change in sex education in Costa Rica, a project that has stagnated
for many years. |
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