Devising a fertility education guide relating to future pregnancy, childbirth and the formation of the family for high school students

Abstract

High school sex education tends to focus on safe sex and preventing unwanted pregnancies. It is rarely mentioned that pregnancy is not a guaranteed outcome of unprotected sex. Some people will be unable to have children in the future and this is an eventuality that high school sex education should prepare students for. Dr Yuri Akizuki, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Japan, is creating and developing an infertility prevention education programme for high school students. In doing so, her goal is to reduce the number of people who want to have children but cannot have them, and ensure that younger people have knowledge of fertility. When working in a gynecological clinic during her studies, Akizuki encountered stories from women who faced infertility and weren't equipped with important knowledge on the topic and this experience provided the inspiration for her current work. In the short term, Akizuki wants to ensure high school teachers are equipped with the skills and experience to teach and recognise the importance of fertility knowledge. In the long term, she hopes her work can help people to get pregnant later in life and even halt Japan's declining birth rate. It is necessary to ensure that local and national governments understand the importance of fertility knowledge in order that fertility education can be provided to high school students. Akizuki and her team hope that their guide can be used as an important aid to sex education in high schools.