GIVING 10 YEAR OLDS CONTRACEPTIVES? NO!!!

This past week what everybody in Zimbabwe has been talking about is an alleged decision by the Ministry of Health to give contraceptives to 10 year olds.

Heated debates have been going on on radio discussions and the social networks and most people weren’t exactly too thrilled by this latest development. My concern was; how could a group of learned adults we trust with the health of our country come up with such a policy?

A ten year old is equal to grade four/grade five. These are children. This is as minor as minor gets. Do you remember when you yourself were a ten year old? Yes we did wonder about the sexual organs and the Reproduction topic in Environmental Science was always everybody’s favourite topic; although during the lesson, everybody would be dying of embarrassment.

However, regardless of all that curiosity, we were concerned more with watching cartoons, playing and just being children. Yes as times move, things change, but there is nothing new under the sun. Children will always be children, and it is up to us as parents to direct them in the direction we want them to go in. Now giving these children condoms and birth control pills and injections seems to me like going way overboard!

Are we saying that if we are faced with a problem the solution is to legalize the act? In that case, why don’t we legalize abortion and prostitution and while we are at it, allow the use of marijuana as well. Because if people are going to say “oh what can we do if the kids are being sexually active?” and they see giving these minors contraceptives as the only solution; then I mourn for our future!

I was going through the press just now and I saw that Dr David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health gave a press conference just recently responding to this issue. Apparently, the Ministry of Health had been misquoted. My question is, had reputable newspapers misquoted the Ministry of Health, or was the Government simply testing the waters to see if their policy would fly?

Regardless, I am somewhat relieved that our ten year olds are still being seen as children and are not going to be given any contraceptives, and hope that it stays like that.