Sex education for Ambonese refugees

AMBON, Maluku: The United Nations Fund Population Agency (UNFPA) has provided Rp 2.2 billion (US$258,000) in assistance toward the instigation of a reproduction program in Maluku province, which was wracked by three years of sectarian fighting since 1999.

The aid was also intended to provide emergency funds for refugees, who fled their homes due to the conflict, Maluku family planning agency's Gusti Ayu Sri Astuti said here on Wednesday.

She said the reproduction program, which is carried out with the cooperation of her office, had already started in the regencies of Southeast Maluku, Central Maluku and Ambon in November 2002.

It will be fully operational in 2004, she added.

Astuti said the program hopes to prevent Ambonese refugees from participating in unsafe sex. It will also educate them about the prevention of sex-related diseases and provide them with condoms.

She said the program will also commence in Buru regency in October 2003 and that her office is already preparing plans, in coordination with relevant local agencies.

Astuti said the government is still considering whether the program will be implemented in the regency of Maluku Tenggara Barat.--Antara