The Reproductive Family Health Association of Fiji believes the country has not fulfilled its commitment to implement sexual and reproductive health awareness into the education system.

Under the 2013 Moana Declaration, Fiji pledged to establish an environment that ensures access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Association’s Youth Representative, Ashleigh Mar-Chang says the current Comprehensive Sexuality Education, also known as Family Life Education, has not been entirely integrated in schools.

Mar-Chang says children may acquire information from unsafe sources, such as pornographic websites, which will eventually influence them to engage in harmful sexual behaviour.

“So, not all the time that people talk … that parents talk about sex or going through puberty and things like that so they look for this information elsewhere and that can happen on pornographic sites and all of these things and it does affect them at such a young age.”

Mar-Chang says children can also be involved in domestic violence, wherein young men and women are exploited and deprived of their childhood.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has also undertaken efforts to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for all people.

Head of Family Health Unit, Doctor Racheal Devi says they have created awareness on SRH through their Adolescent Youth Friendly Health Service Program.

The Reproductive Family Health Association of Fiji and Health Ministry have collaborated to undertake outreach on sexual and reproductive health in out of reach communities in both urban and rural areas.