Maere Tekanene Photo: RNZI / Mary Baines
A Kiribati cabinet minister says parents should have more open discussions with their children about sex so they are more aware of the risks around teenage pregnancy, puberty and sexual health.
Education Minister Maere Tekanene has been in New Zealand for an open hearing on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Pacific.
She says parents should be talking to their children to make sure they are being responsible.
"They need to know how to be safe. We have a young person joining us that shared how he wasn't aware of the body changes that he was going through. He was part of this opening hearing, and he wished his parents told him that 'these things are happening to you'."
Maere Tekanene says contraception is availiable in shops and clinics, but not at schools.
