Key facts
- Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) aims to improve knowledge and understanding, and to correct misconceptions by providing young people with age-appropriate, scientifically accurate, and culturally relevant information about their bodies, health, relationships and rights. It also aims to promote self-awareness and norms that are equitable and respectful of others, by providing structured opportunities to discuss and reflect on thoughts and feelings, attitudes and values, and to practice skills which helps young people stay healthy, build respectful relationships, make informed choices, and seek help when needed.
- Evidence shows that high-quality, well-implemented CSE can delay sexual initiation and reduce sexual risk-taking, while increasing contraceptive use.
- Evidence shows that CSE does not increase sexual activity or encourage earlier sexual behaviour.
- Programmes that address both delaying sex and contraceptive use are more effective than abstinence‑only programmes.
- While a small but growing number of countries are improving the content and delivery of CSE in and outside the school setting, access to CSE remains uneven and quality varies, leaving many young people without essential knowledge and skills.
Overview
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is a curriculum‑based, incremental and scientifically-accurate approach that teaches children and young people about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality in a culturally-relevant and age-appropriate way. It helps children and young people understand their bodies, develop healthy relationships, build life skills, make informed and responsible decisions, and protect their health and well-being.
CSE can be delivered in both formal and non-formal settings.
What CSE covers
CSE includes topics such as:
- relationships: families, friendships, love, romantic relationships, respect, inclusion, communication, parenting;
- human rights and values: rights, responsibilities, cultural norms, respect for diversity;
- gender equality: norms, stereotypes, discrimination and bias, power dynamics, gender‑based violence;
- consent and safety: privacy, bodily integrity, recognizing and reporting abuse, safe use of digital technologies;
- life skills: decision‑making, communication, negotiation, media and digital literacy, help-seeking and accessing support;
- human development: anatomy, physiology, puberty – including menstruation and menstrual health, reproduction, fertility awareness, body image;
- sexuality: sexual development, identity, and behaviour; and
- sexual and reproductive health: contraception, pregnancy and its prevention, HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), stigma reduction, care, treatment and support, accessing adolescent-friendly health services.
Guiding framework
The international technical guidance on sexuality education provides a rights-based, learner-centred framework that can be adapted to local contexts. It emphasizes inclusion, respect, empathy, responsibility, and gender equality. Collaboration with educators, health experts, parents/caregivers, and young people ensures that programmes meet learners’ needs and are delivered effectively.
Why CSE matters
Many children and adolescents do not receive accurate or comprehensive information about their bodies, relationships, or sexual health. Without CSE, young people may be:
- unprepared for puberty
- unsure of how to form healthy, respectful relationships
- less able to protect themselves from STIs or unintended pregnancy
- more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and misinformation.
CSE prepares children and adolescents to make well-informed choices, to communicate those choices and to act in ways that support their own health and the health of others.
What the evidence shows
Research consistently shows that among adolescents, high-quality CSE:
- increases knowledge and promotes positive attitudes and norms(1,4);
- supports protective behaviors, including delayed sexual initiation in some settings, increased contraceptive and condom use, fewer sexual partners and reduced risk taking(2,3,4); and
- is associated with lower rates of unintended pregnancy and contributes to reduced STI risk by decreasing risk behaviors, and improving knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, particularly condom use, in some settings(1,3,4).
There is no evidence that CSE increases sexual activity or risk‑taking(1). Rather, it supports responsible, informed decision-making.
When and where CSE should be provided
- Intended to support school-based curricula, the UN’s global guidance indicates starting CSE at the age of 5 when formal education typically begins. However, sexuality education is a lifelong process, and it could begin earlier in life, at home, with trusted caregivers.
- Learning is incremental; what is taught at the earliest ages provides a foundation to be built on as a child grows older and transitions to puberty and adolescence. Early childhood content focuses on understanding bodies, emotions, family structures, relationships, respect, and basic principles of consent and safety – not sexual activity.
- CSE should be part of school curricula with reinforcement of key messages by parents/caregivers and communities.
- Consistent messages across home, school, and the wider community can reinforce learning and strengthen effectiveness.
Global situation
While countries have made steady progress in strengthening their CSE programming including improving both content and delivery access to quality CSE remains uneven due to challenges such as social norms that discourage open discussion, misinformation and misconceptions that CSE encourages sexual activity, and teachers lacking the capacity and comfort to teach and discuss the subject(1,4). Many young people still lack essential information and skills, and to the health services they need, increasing their vulnerability to poor health outcomes.
Young people who are out of school, living in humanitarian settings, or facing discrimination (including girls, LGBTQ+ youth, adolescents with disabilities, and those in rural areas) are less likely to receive accurate information and support(1,4). Scaling up high-quality, inclusive, equitable CSE programmes is critical. Impact depends on implementation quality, including trained educators and facilitators, use of participatory methods, inclusive materials, and linkages to adolescent-friendly services and systems that protect and support young people.
WHO response
WHO works with UN partners and other stakeholders to support countries to strengthen CSE by:
- stimulating and supporting implementation research to develop and test approaches to improve the technical content and delivery of CSE;
- synthesizing research, evaluation and programmatic experiences in providing CSE effectively;
- providing technical support to expand access to high‑quality, evidence‑based, age‑appropriate and culturally relevant CSE, including programme adaptation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation in line with the international technical guidance on sexuality education and the International Technical and Programmatic Guidance on Out of School Comprehensive Sexuality Education(5,6);
- promoting gender equality, safeguarding and child protection, and safe learning environments, and strengthening linkages between CSE and adolescent-friendly health services; and
- supporting advocacy to highlight CSE’s role in improving young people’s health and well-being.
References
- Goldfarb ES, Lieberman LD, Conklin K. Three Decades of Evidence: Promising Approaches to Effective Comprehensive Sex Education. J Adolesc Health. 2026 Jan;78(1):19-34. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2025.06.034.
- Kim EJ, Park B, Kim SK, Park MJ, Lee JY, Jo AR, et al. A meta‑analysis of the effects of comprehensive sexuality education programs on children and adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(23):15965. doi:10.3390/ijerph192315965.
- Rodríguez-García, A., Botello-Hermosa, A., Borrallo-Riego, Á., & Guerra-Martín, M. D. (2025). Effectiveness of Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Reduce Risk Sexual Behaviours Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review. Sexes, 6(1), 6.
- Lohan M, López A. Comprehensive sexuality education: an overview of the international systematic review evidence. Paris: UNESCO; 2023. ISBN: 978‑92‑3‑100570‑8.
- UNESCO. International technical guidance on sexuality education: an evidence‑informed approach. Revised edition. Paris: UNESCO; 2018.
- UNFPA. International Technical and Programmatic Guidance on Out‑of‑School Comprehensive Sexuality Education: An Evidence‑Informed Approach for Non‑Formal, Out‑of‑School Programming. New York: UNFPA; 2020.