Reproductive health programmes

Reproductive health programmes for young people vary in their
approach. Some are fairly explicit (e.g., by demonstrating the correct
use of condoms). Most, however, are basically conservative in their
approach and encourage delay in sexual initiation and limiting the
number of one’s partners. Some studies indicate that more explicit
approaches that include skills training—i.e., how to use condoms
correctly and how to negotiate their use with partners—may produce
greater reductions in sexual risk than programmes that provide only
information11,12. However, even the more explicit condom promotion
programmes for adolescents seldom emphasize ‘eroticizing safer sex’.
This approach is more commonly taken in prevention programmes
aimed at key populations at risk, such as men who have sex with men
or sex workers and their clients.
If protected or safer sex is promoted as part of an array of means, which
also include abstinence, and partner reduction, aimed at preventing
sexual transmission of HIV, there is greater likelihood that strategies will
complement and mutually reinforce each other. In different situations,
the emphasis placed on each strategy will differ in accordance with
epidemiological, contextual and behavioural evidence.