TITLE:
Quality Provision of Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Sexual and Reproductive Health in Resource Constrained Higher Education Institutions: A Case of Mukuba University
AUTHORS:
Evans Lifuka, Lazarous Chanda
KEYWORDS:
Quality, Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Sexual and Reproductive Health
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Reproductive Sciences,
Vol.11 No.3,
July
12,
2023
ABSTRACT: In an effort to ensure that Institutions of Higher Learning provide quality Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) at the level of Universities and Colleges, indeveloping countries such as Zambia, some universities have engaged in offering programmes and services in CSE and SRH. However, the provision of such programmes has had some limitations in terms of resources to ensure quality delivery. As a result, there was a need to examine the provision of CSE and SRH in a resource constrained Mukuba University. The study has three research objectives: 1) to examine the CSE and SRH programmes and services that are available at Mukuba University; 2) to determine the actual resources available for the University to ensure quality provision of CSE and SRH to students; 3) to use views and opinions of students and academics to examine the extent to which the CSE and SRH are reflected as standards by UNESCO and universities and colleges. The study took a pragmatic philosophy stance and convergent parallel research design of mixed methods; the primary approach is qualitative which will be analysed using thematic analysis, while the quantitative approach was secondary and the data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study envisaged some implications that include the rise in communicable diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), gender based violence, general lack of information on matters relating to CSE and SRH among students at Mukuba University. The policy implication is that policy makers will be able to formulate policies that address the needs and challenges of students in providing quality CSE and SRH programmes and services for a university that is constrained with resources. The study found that there was a need to contextualize the quality provision of CSE and SRH at an institutional level, for instance,Mukuba University has created an enabling environment for quality provision of CSE and SRH activities and programmes through training of the stakeholders. Further, it was found that in any successful programme, it is expected to meet certain challenges that might in some cases make it difficult to implement the programme as envisaged. In other words, this study has revealed that there are some drawbacks as well as lessons that Mukuba University could learn from other universities that offer CSE and SRH. The study provides a synergistic conceptual model that could be used in the implementation of CSE and SRH in colleges and universities for sustainability. It is hoped that this study has proved that even with limited resources a university can provide CSE and SHR programmes and services without depending on support from other external funders and cooperating partners.