Having Sex At 10, Report Finds
Eight children aged between 10 and 14 were among 4,140 adolescents and young people who sought family planning services for the first time in Midlands Province during the first quarter of 2026, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council has revealed.
This has raised concern about the young age at which children are having their first sexual experience.
ZNFPC data for Midlands shows young adults aged 20 to 24 accounted for the highest number of first-time family planning clients at 2,537, followed by 1,595 aged between 15 and 19.
Health experts say the figures point to growing sexual activity among adolescents, driven by exposure to sexually explicit content online, child sexual abuse, inadequate parental supervision, substance abuse, school dropouts and limited access to comprehensive sexuality education.
They warn that many adolescents only seek contraception after becoming sexually active, increasing their risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
ZNFPC Midlands provincial manager Karen Dzuke called for comprehensive sexuality education and stronger child protection systems to improve adolescents’ access to accurate reproductive health information and help reduce unintended pregnancies, HIV infections and sexual exploitation.
The report also shows that Gweru distributed 10,525 female condoms compared with 207,183 male condoms, while Kwekwe recorded 6,340 female condoms against 248,235 male condoms, the highest male condom distribution in the province.
Across Midlands, more than 1.5 million male condoms were distributed during the quarter, compared with about 22,000 female condoms.
Other districts reported similarly low uptake of female condoms.
Gokwe North distributed 3,331 female condoms against 177,113 male condoms, Gokwe South 805 against 221,052, Mberengwa 427 against 139,043, Shurugwi 204 against 204,944, Zvishavane 190 against 217,597, while Chirumhanzu recorded the lowest distribution at 154 female condoms against 99,858 male condoms.
Dzuke attributed the low uptake to limited awareness, cultural beliefs, misconceptions about the female condom, partner resistance and inadequate counselling and demonstrations by healthcare workers.
She said improving uptake would require sustained community education, stronger counselling by health workers, greater male involvement in reproductive health programmes, reliable supplies at health facilities and expanded youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
