Definition:

Proportion of children, adolescents and young people with information and knowledge on sexuality and reproduction appropriate for their respective ages.

Notes:

The standards of knowledge and information on sexuality expected at different ages (under 15, 15-19 years and 20-29 years) need to be specified, and then questions must be developed to measure them, either in surveys or school exams. In Latin America there are no such standards of regional scope, although some countries may have them. As a reference, consideration must be given to the new International Guidelines on Sexuality Education that UNESCO will issue this year and to the work of the expert group on sexuality education facilitated by UNESCO and UNFPA. There are also detailed proposals in countries such as the United States, for example: Future of Sex Education Initiative, (2012), National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12 [a special publication of the Journal of School Health]. www.futureofsexeducation.org/documents/josh-fose-standards-web.pdf.

In any case, it is agreed that more work is needed on the metadata to arrive at an expert, politically validated and measurable definition of “information and knowledge about sexuality and reproduction adequate for their respective ages”.