The content and quality of sexual and reproductive health curriculum for high school students should be strengthened and the delivery of this curriculum ensured.
This has been strongly recommended in the latest Fiji Bureau of Statistics report under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on Putting Data and Evidence into Action : An Intersectional Profile of Adolescent Pregnancy and Motherhood in Fiji.
According to the latest report, approximately 1,000 babies were born each year to teenage mothers during 2016-2019, with the youngest mother recorded to be only 13 years of age.
During 2016-2019 the annual adolescent fertility rate (15-19 years) increased steadily and significantly from 30 to 38 births per 1,000 among mothers of iTaukei children, and from 19 to 24 births per 1,000 among mothers of non-iTaukei children.
The report indicates that unmarried sexually active adolescent girls had the greatest unmet need for contraception, with only 19 percent being able to access a form of modern contraception when they wanted to.
It adds that the established Adolescent Peer Education Program run by the Ministry of Health could be used/updated to provide sexual and reproductive health information and education in communities.
The report states that a review of content and implementation of sexual and reproductive health curriculum in high schools has to be undertaken.
The proposed timeframe is for implementation by December 2024.
