IPAS Indonesia was present in the midst of Community Development activities organized by CIMSA (Center for Indonesian Medical Students’ Activities). The activity was held on November 19, 2022 at Wijaya Kusuma Pratama Junior High School in Tangerang.
More than 80 junior high school students and CIMSA members of Universitas Pelita Harapan learned together about the importance of comprehensive sexual education. The Director of IPAS Indonesia , Dr. Marcia Soumokil, MPH, interactively provided education on sexual and reproductive health rights for adolescents.
The increasing trend of out-of-wedlock pregnancy cases experienced by teenagers encourages CIMSA to continue to promote this educational activity. Based on data collected by CIMSA, at the end of 2021 there were around 276 cases of pregnancy outside of marriage. One of the causes is the Covid-19 pandemic factor which makes most students unable to carry out learning at school and fall into the practice of free sex (Sindonews, 2022).
In addition, approximately 33.3% of adolescent girls and 34.5% of adolescent boys aged 15-19 years started dating when they were not yet 15 years old. At this age, it is feared that they do not have adequate life skills, so they are at risk of having unhealthy dating behavior, including premarital sex (pusdatin.kemkes.go.id).
IPAS Indonesia supports sexual and reproductive health empowerment activities for adolescents. As IPAS’s vision of the importance of having autonomy over the body. Every teenager must recognize their own body rights. In this case it is very important for teenagers to understand their boundaries when dating, and dare to say no, no means no.
As a result, the talk show session was very lively. Participants were very enthusiastic in asking questions and answering every challenge given. We also gave away various merchandise as a form of appreciation. (*)
