In COVID-19 Era: sexual initiation, socialization and risk exposure of youth from public high school

Abstract

In times of COVID-19 and the necessary practices of self-care, distancing and caring for others, interactions and social practices of adolescents and young people have put them at risk of infection by SARS-CoV2 and may expose to the risk of infection and illness with COVID-19 other people in the homes and communities where they live, work and study. The UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery defines adolescents as a priority group to be addressed. Youth sociability in the pandemic has been less explored than it should in research on social and programmatic responses to the pandemic. Inviting for in-depth interviews a sample of 16-19-year-old students from public high schools living in territories of greater social vulnerability in the city of São Paulo, we aim to assess adolescent and youth health care services and ongoing comprehensive prevention projects, investigating how socioeconomic and gender inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic mark sexual initiation and the dynamics of social and sexual interactions, and the impact on prevention of SARS-CoV-2. It is urgent to overcome the silence that exists about youth sexuality in the pandemic in order to support prevention of unforeseen pregnancy, STIs/AIDS and violence alongside the need to maintain physical distancing and wearing masks for a long time in the prolonged context of the epidemic. Moreover, this study aims to overcome methodological difficulties faced, by ongoing projects and, in alignment with the Roadmap, to provide empirical evidence that highlights the power of human rights-based approaches necessary to reduce inequality while promoting health. High school students can be critical "interlocutors-researchers" about social and psychosocial processes marked and definitely modified by the dynamics of the local epidemic, with long-lasting effects. The project will contribute to building comprehensive prevention policies in schools from the youth perspective, both in the context of the uncontrolled COVID-19 epidemic and in the recovery path, without losing sight of the social determinants of the health-disease process. (AU)