Policy - Minimum Standards of Service
8.1.3 Policy - Minimum Standards of Service
There were several questions about the nature of and level of standards for sexual health promotion set by the health and education systems. These standards are reported in this section of the report
. The following graphs present summaries of the two key standards, mandatory instruction and mandatory preventive sexual health services.The respondents from all levels within the school systems reported that sexuality education was mandatory. All of the education ministries mandated (required) instruction about HIV, STD and sexuality. 87.6% of school districts reported that they required instruction about AIDS/HIV/sexuality
(SD -8). 84.6% of school principals said that sexuality instruction was mandatory in their school (SP - 10). 6.3% of school districts stipulated HIV/AIDS learning outcomes but do not designate at which grade levels it must be taught.The response from health authorities to a similar question on mandatory services was a little more varied. When asked if it was mandatory to offer sexual health information, counseling and referral services about one-third (33.3%) of health ministries said yes and an additional 16.7% said that this was true in part. More public health units said that these services were mandatory, with a total of 69.4% saying that they offered these services in whole or in part. Almost all public health nurses said that they provided such services to youth.
Figure 15
Figure 16
