Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

CSE

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is a teaching syllabus on sexuality which comprises multiple aspects – from cognitive to social skills. It supports young people’s sexual and reproductive health development.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

It must be noted that there have been strides towards the positive in terms of gender equality in Malaysia. In August 2022, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 was passed by the Dewan Negara (the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia) and was the first of many steps to increase the prevention and awareness of sexual harassment (in addition to the sexual harassment provisions in the Employment Act). In March 2023, several provisions of the Act came into effect, with the rest of the Act coming into effect in stages in the future.

In March 2023, Malaysia passed amendments to the Penal Code making stalking (physically and online) a crime. The new Section 507A was included under the Penal Code to make stalking an offence and the passing of the amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code is a positive step towards improving Malaysia’s response to gender-based violence and for survivors to find relief and seek protection.

Comprehensive Healthcare Services

Despite the Ministry of Health providing comprehensive healthcare services for all age groups and genders, including SRH services at minimal cost, accessibility is still a gap present due to social and religious stigma. Internally, there are policies by the health authorities that may compromise the rights to privacy and confidentiality of women at risk.

A UNICEF report found that Malaysia’s policies on sex education are still deprived of clear and unambiguous knowledge and information sharing. Regardless of the numerous SRH policies established, the importance of having comprehensive SRH services, including comprehensive sexuality education, gets lost in translation.

In 2012, The Ministry made positive progress by introducing a guideline on Managing Adolescents Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues in Health Clinics. This initiative aimed to promote youth-friendly services in all healthcare facilities throughout Malaysia. With the guideline, it will help healthcare providers in their treatment of adolescents, particularly girls who come for pregnancy-related services, contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections, and as survivors of sexual violence.

Nonetheless, there is still a severe lack of publicly available sex disaggregated health data and gender-sensitive research on health issues in Malaysia. The State of World Population 2019 Report which captures the percentage of married or in-union women aged 15–49 years who make their own decisions regarding sexual intercourse with their partner, use of contraception and healthcare, also had no information recorded for Malaysia.

SRHR is an all encompassing subject matter that must be tackled in a multidisciplinary, multifaceted and agile approach so that we do not miss any women or girl child in the process.

Child Marriage