Reproductive Education: What do our medical students say?

Reproductive Education: What do our medical students say?

The purpose of any NGO is to have an impact on the community. In this regard, human resource is vital to success. In the case of our project, the action protagonists are The Federation of Medical Students’ Associations from Romania. From all over the country, medical students are the carriers of our projects’ information. They already started to deliver questionnaires in the country side and outline our Comprehensive Sexual Education in Romania statistics.

Because every action has a reaction, we decided to interview one of the students who already went to some villages from Romania and find out what impact our project has, as well as what his first impression was of the project. Cosmin Deaconu is the Local Officer on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights within the Student Society of Medical Students from Craiova.

‘Hello, Cosmin. What do you think medical students can learn from this experience?’

Firstly, I learned that we need to be adaptable. We live in an urban world, where conditions and perspectives differ from the rural one. I learned that normality, especially in communication, is a subjective concept. What is normal for someone from the city might be abnormal for someone from a village and vice versa.

“What obstacles did you encounter along the journey?” Can you tell us? ”

Over the period in which we distributed questionnaires and gathered information, predictable and unpredictable things happened. Of course, there were communication problems or those related to the reluctance of some people, but it also happened that in some schools I was met with a vehement refusal when I tried to get the approvals. I think the lack of interest also contributed to that.

            “What do you think sex education will look like in rural areas? Where do you think it’s heading? ”

            I am sure that through this project some foundations have been laid in terms of a form of sex education in the villages. I hope that the number of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections will decrease in the future. But first of all, I truly hope this project will attract public attention, as the situation in rural areas is more precarious and worse than it seems from a distance.

             “How do medical students and NGOs manage to intervene in the issue of sex education?”

            We have the power to put our foot in front of the door. NGOs and medical students must insist on knocking on the school doors. The change starts from the blade of the grass, and that I learned in my volunteer years more than ever. We have a real influence, and young people, regardless of the environment, really want to understand their bodies, emotions and possibilities.

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