2016年CRI Chinese Youth Mark Chinese Valentine with safe sex campaign

 

The music may be familiar theme songs from movies and TV shows but listen carefully to the lyrics² and you will find that they have one thing in common. These songs are used to educate young people about sexual and reproductive health.

As the Qixi Festival arrives in China, a network of Chinese youth are calling for young people to make using condoms "cool" to protect themselves against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

As part of the All In Campaign, a global call to action to end adolescent AIDS, youth representatives from across the country have spent the last month conducting safe sex and HIV prevention activities.

Xie Zhuoyan is a philosophy student from Fudan University in Shanghai and has spent her summer holiday teaching sexual health classes to both children and college students.

"We have different methods teaching children and adults. We would use games to educate little kids. For example, when we teach them about AIDS, we would play 'Bacteria Battle.' We would have all the kids form a circle. Some children would be inside the circle and some would be outside. The ones on the outside have to try to get inside. Then, we would say AIDS is like this game. If you are infected by HIV, the circle, which represents your immune system, would be gone and it would be very easy for the kids on the outside, who represent viruses, to get inside. So we make a lot of comparisons and analogies. For college students, we would talk about more in-depth issues such as how to reject sexual advances and how to handle sex responsibly."

Adolescents in China face a multitude of challenges in sexual and reproductive health, including sexual exploitation and abuse. These have subsequently led to STIs, unplanned pregnancies³ and unsafe abortions⁴, all of which pose a threat to their rights to survival, development and protection.

The classes aim to use a mix of online and offline activities to engage youngsters to learn about, talk about and practice safe sex.

Dr. Wang Lu from National AIDS Center of China says sexual health and AIDS prevention education should start from a young age.

"I believe the prevention of AIDS in youth should start from sexual health education. We need to build a curriculum from elementary school to high school. Only when the youth are fully¹ informed and knowledgeable⁵ about sexual health can they make the right judgment⁶ when it comes to sex and say 'no' to dangerous sexual situations."

According to a report by UNICEF, over 50,000 adolescents aged⁷ 15 to 19 in China have been newly infected with HIV in 2014, accounting⁸ for 15 percent of all new infections in the country. Over the past five years, China has witnessed rising HIV infections among young people with a 35 percent annual increase in new infections among students aged 15 to 24.

According to UNICEF China's Chief of Communication and Partnership⁹ Shantha Bloeman, both teachers and family members have the responsibility of educating kids and youth about sexual health.

"We need to start with parents. Parents have the primary responsibility to help break cultural taboos¹⁰ and breach¹¹ these conversations with their children. But we also know that it can be really helped and backed up if it also happens at school, if there is a formal education system that helps to reinforce some of these adolescent questions as kids start to develop and experiment. The challenge often is that parents also don't want to discuss these issues with their children. They feel embarrassed. So there is a void. Who is talking about this to their kids?"

Without guidance from teachers and parents, kids would often turn to the internet for information. And that could put them at even higher risk. Shantha Bloeman says that in order to provide the correct information to their children, parents must be both open-minded and resourceful.

"(You need to) do the homework yourself. There are some good tools around. In a way, it's responding to their questions. Kids are curious. They start asking questions and often, we shut them down when they start asking questions we don't want to address. We can't do that. We've got to be willing to encourage them to ask questions. And if we don't feel comfortable, then figure out whom in the family is less embarrassed. But I think it's very dangerous when, especially young people, seek information and then being told it's not the right question to ask."

But Bloeman says she is excited to see the development in sexual health education in China and how the next generation will approach the subject.

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

3 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

4 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

5 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

6 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

7 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

8 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 taboos   

禁忌( taboo的名词复数 )； 忌讳； 戒律； 禁忌的事物（或行为）

参考例句：

• She was unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. 她被藩蓠、法律及外来的戒律赶下了马。
• His mind was charged with taboos. 他头脑里忌讳很多。

11 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。