My heart sank everytime I heard about babies being dumped or thrown away like a piece of garbage, when there are thousand others who try desperately and unsuccessfully to have their own child... We read about it almost on daily basis and still, no drastic measure taken to stop this inhuman act. To make it worst, people almost don't talk about the root cause of this matter anymore, which is obviously, the lack of knowledge...
Most of us frown upon the importance of teaching sex education at school to children and teenagers, but if we didn't play our part and expose them to the responsibility and the possibility behind the act, the problems will never solve... We need to equip them with the right information to prevent the unwanted pregnancies which can leads to abortion and baby abandonment...
To address this issue, Durex Malaysia organized a sexual and reproductive health college programme to create awareness among youngsters about sexual health and contraceptive options that leads them to make informed decisions. Theme "One Voice, Prevention is Key", the students will be given access to information on sexual and reproductive health through 2 platforms; a Facebook design contest application and the on-ground college roadshows.
The design contest invites the students to develop their own art and slogans to a poster or postcard containing their views on the unwanted pregnancies. The participants are required to submit their creative designs in a format of a picture and upload it at Durex Malaysia facebook page; the winning designs in each category with the most number of votes will walk away with Ipad2 and Durex Malaysia will also giving out 5 Ipod Touch as a consolation prize for each category as well.
The college roadshows were held at 5 different college campuses throughout November; namely Taylor Lakeside Campus, UITM Shah Alam, Raffles College, INTI International University and also IACT College.
During the roadshows, there are a lot of activities took place to help the students gain a better access to the information regarding their sexual reproduction dilemma, with info panels about HIV, unwanted pregnancies and not to forget, the baby dumping issues.
Premium items such as playing cards, notepad and coasters were also exclusively given for those who like Durex Malaysia facebook page. Besides that, the guys were encouraged to fill up the survey during the roadshows and were provided with various information to improve their knowledge on the subjects.
We might still have a long way to go but like baby steps, this programme certainly delivered its target in creating a better platform for "taboo" subjects for youngsters to turn into. Hopefully, we won't hear about babies abandonment in the future anymore. Prevention as we all knew, definitely is the key =)