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Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care has called for a downward review of the age at which girls can access sexual and reproductive health services.

These include access to contraceptives, HIV testing and counselling.

Currently such services are not accessible to girls in public institutions and most of the underage adolescents cannot afford the private sector.

In an interview, Dr Ruth Labode, who chairs the committee, said it was futile for most Zimbabweans to continue being in denial concerning sexual activities among adolescent girls.

She said it was better that they access the services than die due to unsafe abortions which are on the increase and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

“I have visited secondary schools and tertiary institutions where you find facilitators who concentrate on preaching abstinence when we are all aware they are sexually active,” said Dr Labode.

“We really need to review the years these girls can access such services because even our former Minister of Education Dr Lazarus Dokora confirmed that 4 500 primary school girls failed to proceed to secondary school sometimes due to pregnancy.”

Dr Labode said she was not advocating for the review of the age of consent to be changed as she still believes that underage girls should not be married or engaging in consensual sex.

“We are not saying let us review the age of consent but we need to be real and accept that our children are no longer virgins, even the church going ones. We should accept and provide services that will help keep them healthy while we continue to raise awareness on all these health issues.”

According to Dr Labode, the country still has to work on ending child marriages which still affect a number of girls.

Unicef approximates that one in every three girls in Zimbabwe is married before they turn 18.

“Our young girls are continuously becoming victims of child marriages, early and unwanted pregnancies which in turn force them to abort. If we review our policies we may save lives and stop the spread of STIs especially HIV which thrives in teenage girls,” said Dr Labode.

Zimbabwe is one of 20 countries which has committed to ending child marriage by the end of 2020 after signing the Ministerial Commitment on comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and young people in Eastern and Southern Africa.

— @thamamoe