All avenues for sex education from parents and guardians to schools and public health campaigns need to be strategically used across the country to educate the youth about reproductive health, legislators have said.

The Members of Parliament were speaking in Kigali yesterday under the Parliamentarian’s Network for Population and Development, commonly known by its French acronym as RPRPD, during a consultative meeting about how universities are providing reproductive health services to students.

It was clear during the discussions at the meeting that students should be knowledgeable enough about their reproductive health by the time they join university.

This means sex education should start earlier, like in primary and secondary schools, before students join university, experts said.

In October, members of the network toured various schools in the country to discuss the issue of unwanted pregnancies linked to pre-marital sex among teenagers and they have concluded that more campaigns about sex education are needed.

"We found out that reproductive health policies need to be advertised more,” said Senator Thérèse Kagoyire Bishagara, a member of RPRPD.

Senator Kagoyire said many avenues for sex education should be used more to educate the youth to check cases of unwanted pregnancies and other consequences of unsafe sex.

"Health clubs in schools need to be empowered more to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health because the youth are better placed to advise their peers than anyone else. Local leaders should also act more to educate members of their communities about sexual and reproductive health,” she said.

According to the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2014, 7 per cent of women aged 15-19 in the country have begun bearing children, mostly out of unwanted pregnancies.

At the meeting, MPs and other activists called for more involvement of men and boys in sex education campaigns instead of only focusing on women and girls.

"We need to involve men and boys more in the reproductive health talks because they are also concerned the same way as women and girls,” said Ancilla Nibigira, from Rwanda Women’s Network (RWN), a non-governmental organisation.

MP John Ruku-Rwabyoma agreed with Nibigira, but called for tougher measures against men who are the source of unwanted pregnancies for young girls.

"We need to hold people accountable; we shouldn’t just blame pregnant girls and ignore men who get them pregnant. We should hold them to account,” Ruku-Rwabyoma said.

He advised the government to set up a national toll-free number to serve the entire country and allow people to call in and seek professional and confidential advice about sexual and reproductive health.

The Minister of Education, Dr Papias Malimba Musafiri, said the new study curriculum for pre-school, primary, and secondary levels, whose implementation will start next month, will make a difference in addressing sex education challenges for the youth.

The minister said the curriculum allocates longer hours for sex education but he warned that other avenues such as families and community meetings should also be used to educate the youth about their reproductive health.

Under a five-year strategic plan launched in February 2014, RPRPD works to push for policy changes at national level to allow more access to reproductive health and family planning services.

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