COULD WATCHING LESS SEX ON TV REDUCE OUR INCIDENCE OF HIV/AIDS?
The AIDS Epidemic claimed an estimated 24,000 lives in the Caribbean in 2005, having the second highest rate in the world, second only to Sub-Saharan Africa
In Saint Lucia, 13 % of patients known to be living with HIVAIDS are in the 15 – 25 age group and there were 8 new confirmed cases of HIV in the under 20 age group in 2005. In addition, we know that that the unknown cases of HIV in the community, unwittingly transmitting the virus among the sexually active young people, are fueling the epidemic even further.
The “Uganda Experience” is one success story in the fight against AIDS. Using the three prong approach of monogamy, abstinence and condom use, their HIV rate fell from 15% in 1991 to 5% in 2001. Results showed a decrease in the % of adolescents 15-17years old having their first sex experience from 50% in 1990 to 34% in 2000. There was little change in activity among persons who already had sex.
A recent study in the United States showed that watching sex on TV predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. (Pediatrics.2004;114(3);e280-9). In this national longitudinal study of 1792 adolescents between 12 to 17 years of age, participants reported their TV viewing habits and sexual experience, and responded to measures of more than a dozen factors known to be associated with adolescent sexual initiation. Results were obtained from baseline and 1-year follow-up interviews.
The incidence of sexual initiation was double in the TV sex viewing teenagers. In addition, exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same risk as exposure to TV that depicted sexual behavior.
The authors of the study concluded that “reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of possible negative consequences of sexual activity could appreciably delay the initiation of coital and noncoital activities. Alternatively, parents may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their teenaged children and discussing their own beliefs about sex and the behaviors portrayed. Pediatricians should encourage these family discussions.”
Over to you –Cable & Wireless and Parents!
