Sexual Health and Relationships Education

To celebrate youth week, the Multicultural Sexual Health Network held a forum on 14 April 2016 about sexual health and relationships education.

The purpose of the forum was to share knowledge and tools to provide quality sexual health and healthy relationships education to young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.  We also launched our new resource, SHARE.  

SHARE is a tool developed by CEH and technology studio Paper Giant, to help facilitate conversations with young people about sexual health, healthy relationships, gender and law. The comics offer young people the opportunity to freely explore these themes in a fun and engaging way.

Research shows that young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds are interested to learn about sexual health, but are unlikely to look for information themselves.

Young people, particularly from refugee backgrounds may not have had opportunities for formal education, or sexuality education and may only come to learn about sexual health issues when facing a crisis such as an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmissible infection. While some form of sexuality education is required in Australian schools, the quality and content varies greatly.

Related Information

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Domestic Violence and Sexual Health

To coincide with White Ribbon Day in November 2015 the Multicultural Sexual Health Network ran the forum, Domestic Violence and Sexual Health at the Multicultural Hub, Melbourne. Seventy people attended the forum on 17th Nvember 2015 to hear from speakers: Darlene, Roshan Bhandary, Dr Regina Quiazon, Dr Joanne Gardiner and Dr Ruth De Souza.

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The MSHN Ballarat forum was held in the newly built Ballarat Community Health Centre on 21st May 2015. Thirty-three people attended, predominantly from Ballarat, with some state-wide agencies attending from Melbourne. The forum provided the opportunity for participants to hear about sexual health in regional areas, with a particular focus on Ballarat and the sexual health needs of people from refugee and migrant communities.

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