MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Health and education ministers from the Caribbean and Latin America will meet here today to sign off on a declaration committing their countries to introducing sex education in school curriculum.

Vivian Lopez, regional advisor on HIV/AIDS at UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean, said the declaration is aimed at getting comprehensive sexual education for HIV prevention in the schools as well as management of the disease.

"It will be about ensuring that schools are places that are accepting and tolerant of HIV and will ensure the rights of young people already living with HIV to education, " she told the Observer yesterday.

Jamaica is said to be among the countries which will be represented at today's meeting which is being convened by the Mexican Government.
According to Lopez, sex education is very important in schools as it teaches children how to communicate about sexual issues and to better take care of themselves.

"These programmes give them the skills to better negotiate condom use and to better plan if they want to have sex and when and so it is like teaching children how to have healthy relationships," she said.

In the ideal settings, Lopez said it would be good to have teachers who specialise in this kind of education impart the message in the classrooms. She said some teachers, including in Jamaica, are already trained in family life and health education.

She also encouraged parents of students at the kindergarten level to embrace the new move.

"The word sex education has an allergic reaction in adults and when we talk about life skills-based education, such as the health and family life education programme... such as what is in Jamaica I think it makes people understand better," she said.

"[Parents must realise] that their children, from a young age, are sexual beings and they have to understand everything from knowing a good or bad touch. And if they understand these are the kind of tools we are giving their kids they will be more accepting," she said.

Jamaica also came in for high commendations as she said it was the only country in the Caribbean which already has a health and family life education programme in kindergarten and pre-primary schools.

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