In a first for Africa, Johannesburg will host a sexology conference in February, the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA) said on Monday.
Over 300 African delegates will discuss issues including male and female sexual dysfunction, child abuse, sex and the disabled, abortion, teenaged parents and the impact of HIV and Aids.
The First Congress for the Advancement of Sexual Health and Rights in Africa would be the "first sexology congress of its kind to be held on the African continent", said PPASA spokesperson Martha Molete.
Congress president Ezio Baraldi said: "No continent on the planet has greater need or urgency for sexual health at this time. For too many people, sexual rights remain concepts written on paper and filed somewhere by someone.
"A paradigm shift is needed. This can only be brought about by those who work in the field - us."
Speakers at the congress would include chief executive of South African Tourism, Cheryl Carolus; Raymond Rosen from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School on Teaching Sexual Health To Healthcare Professionals; and William Fisher from University of Western Ontario on Erotica, Pornography and Behaviour - More Questions Than Answers.
The congress was being organised by the Southern African Sexual Health Association, the PPASA and the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights. It would be run under the auspices of the World Association of Sexology.
The PPASA expected delegates to include medical practitioners, psychologists, social workers, sexual rights activists and policy makers.
The congress runs from February 26 to 28.
More information on the Internet: www.acitravel.co.za- Sapa