By the time they receive sex education in school, many South African children are already infected with HIV, a conference on sex education learned on Monday. Parliamentarian Dr. Albetina Luthuli said that sex education in South Africa is part of the curriculum for high or secondary schools only, beginning when students are about age 15. "At least 15 to 20 percent of children by then are HIV-positive," Luthuli told the gathering in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. Education Minister Kader Asmal called for sex education to focus on relationship, emotional, gender and health issues, as well as physical sexual development, to help children prepare to make their own decisions about sex.

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