The nature of sexually transmitted diseases

An overwhelming majority of learners (97% at Sapler schools and 90% at other schools) could remember being told about STDs.

A substantial proportion of learners also have more direct experience STDs. Between 14% (other schools) and 23% (Sapler schools) of learners who say they have had sex, report having had an STD. With almost one in five learners contracting an STD, this is clearly an important problem. 

The fact that a larger proportion of Sapler learners report having had an STD does not necessarily reflect badly on the programme as it could be due both to greater awareness of STD among Sapler learners and to greater openness about it.

³ Cross-tabulations such as this one can be interpreted as follows: "N" is the number of learners who responded to the question. The values in the table are column percentages, i.e. the percentage of learners from non-Sapler and Sapler schools respectively who responded in a particular way. "Chisq" is the Chi-squared value and "d.f." are the degrees of freedom - both these is a statistically significant difference in the percentages of Sapler versus other learners responding in particular ways. A p-level of smaller than 0.05 is typically considered significant and a p-level of smaller than 0.01 highly significant.

Despite this high level of awareness and personal experience, there were some crucial knowledge deficits with regard to the nature of STDs and HIV/AIDS. Only 55% of learners at Sapler schools and 63% of learners at other schools knew that an STD could remain undetected for some time.

Similarly, only 75% of learners at Sapler schools and 81% of learners at other schools knew that one can be infected with HIV while remaining a-symptomatic.

In addition, only around 65% of learners knew that HIV/AIDS cannot be cured, with only slightly more at Sapler than at other schools knowing this. Awareness that AIDS is an incurable condition is clearly crucial if learners are to appreciate the importance of safe sex practices, and it is of concern that even at Sapler schools almost one in three learners did not know this or were unsure.