Articles about Jamaica

Haz click aquí para leer este posicionamiento en español. Port of Spain, May 8.- The Jamaica Family Planning Association (JFPA), St. Vincent Planned Parenthood Association (SVGPPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation Regional Office in the Americas and the Caribbean celebrate Belize, Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for receiving the World Health Organization’s certification for eliminating perinatal transmission* of HIV and Syphilis, a historic milestone for women and infants in the Caribbean. This significant achievement advances efforts to effectively prevent HIV transmission in our region.  We commend the commitment of governments, health professionals, civil society organizations and communities, including the Jamaica Family Planning Association (JFPA) and St. Vincent Planned Parenthood Association (SVGPPA), both IPPF Member Associations, to invest in adequate attention for HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health and rights.     For Eugenia Lopez Uribe – IPPF Americas and Caribbean Regional Director, “This juncture presents an excellent opportunity to enhance HIV prevention strategies and to show how a well-done prenatal care, where women have access to all necessary tests and treatments, including HIV tests and medicines, works. It's a collective victory: for science, which has advanced and shows its efficiency, and for decision makers who adopt evidence-based responses to HIV."   JFPA and SVGPPA have been key in responding to HIV in their countries, as they have been working to integrate HIV and STI services into its overall family planning offering. JFPA provides counselling, testing and referral of pregnant women at their first ante-natal visit, while SVGPPA offers HIV/STI screening and counselling, both working together with strong HIV organizations on the ground. 

Jamaica Family Planning Association (JFPA), is the brainchild of May Farquharson and Amy Bailey. Both women established what became the Caribbean and Jamaica’s first contraceptive initiative, The Jamaica Birth Control League, - in Kingston, which later became the Jamaica Family Planning League. By the 1950s, Dr Lenworth Jacobs and his wife Beth noticed the need for basic sex education within St Ann and would eventually offer their office space for a family planning clinic. In 1956, the organization was renamed the FAMPLAN and became the seventh member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. The clinic faced resistance from religious groups in the midst of political tensions in Jamaica. Regardless, Dr and Mrs Jacobs with the help of funders, medical personnel, public health nurses and community health aides, persisted and ensured the development and continuity of the organization. But it is the recollection of registered midwife Dorothy Boyd-Brown, of the early days of FAMPLAN, which will leave you hanging on to every word as she tells the story about the glory days of family planning in Jamaica. “I came on to FAMPLAN in 1973 as a volunteer. I was the nurse in charge of maternal and child health at the St Ann’s Bay Health Centre. I got very interested because at the time they had a vibrant youth programme where you would go to schools, churches, other organisations and encourage persons to use contraceptives and other services that we offer like tubal ligation, vasectomy and other things. I wanted to know what this organization was about, so I served as a volunteer until 1977,” Boyd-Brown said. Boyd-Brown is proud to see FAMPLAN develop and grow to provide access to healthcare to over 100 rural communities and hard to reach populations in and around St Ann. “It’s how you were able as a nurse to help others. You had a mobile unit and trust me I enjoyed the mobile unit, going up into the hills,” she said. “They always seem to upgrade the services they offer and have effective communication around the populace in the surrounding communities.” Boyd-Brown lamented on the Community-based Distributors (CBD) Programme, which was huge in the 1970s. The CBDs responsibility was spreading the message of family planning through contraceptive demonstrations, condom distribution, and community-based talks to increase awareness. The impact of the work led to long-term contraception methods like tubal ligation and vasectomy being offered through a special clinic, in addition to hormonal contraception methods. While women were open to the various contraceptives available, there was still a lot of reluctance from men towards family planning. In response, Dr Stewart McKoy pursued the introduction of vasectomy as an alternative contraceptive method. This was, however, met with strong opposition from the Rastafarian community and men who believed in having as many children as possible. “When I came back to St Ann, I was introduced to the Beth Jacobs Clinic. I came and had a whole lot to do here…I was also trained in laparoscopic tubal ligations and when Professor Hugh Wynter heard I was down here he gave me a laparoscope and said start. Therein began the laparoscopic tubal ligation. There were times we did one in 15 minutes. We got so proficient,” Dr McKoy said, pointing out that the fostering of patient-doctor relationships served to bridge the gap between residents and FAMPLAN and led to greater reception of the services. Overtime the work within the community grew and partnerships with other organizations resulted in increased screening for cervical, breast, and prostate cancers, as well as testing for sexually transmitted infections. “You’re able to help a lot of people, even people who don’t come here. I am able to present the information to my schools, to my churches. They are still getting the information and they know what to do,” Boyd Brown said. The team remains committed to spreading the message of contraceptive care and health and wellbeing. “I feel good to get up in the mornings and I look forward to coming here as I know people are depending on the services offered, and they are depending on me,” Nurse Boyd-Brown said. Dr McKoy added: “When I drive in here my thoughts are that I’m home, after all these years it’s good to be back, see familiar faces like Boyd-Brown and continue the work.”

Candice Taylor, 18, joined the Jamaica Family Planning Association (JFPA) Youth Advocacy Movement (YAM) at age 15 after youth officer Fiona Francis introduced her to the group. Initially, Taylor saw YAM as the only place where she could learn about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Today, Taylor uses her knowledge and involvement with YAM to educate her peers about SRHR with hopes that they make more informed choices if they choose to engage in sex. “I’ve seen teenagers get pregnant and it’s based off them never knowing routes they could take to prevent pregnancies. I figured I could play a role by learning it for myself, applying it to myself as well as talk to those around me to somewhat enlighten them about SRHR. I just wanted to be able to learn for myself and pass on the knowledge,” she said. Taylor’s experience with YAM made her realize that  SRHR is not limited to sex, but also about being empowered to make positive changes towards their health and wellbeing. Taylor wanted to be a voice for others and contribute to positive change. “Seeing young girls divert to wanting more and because their parents were not able to provide, they turn to men. Also, I saw undue pressure being placed on girls to not have sex and that pressure, unfortunately, caused them to develop creative ways to go out and it so ends up that were left with an unwanted pregnancy. I was learning not only for myself, but to spread the word.  I learned I needed to immerse myself in order to be an effective advocate,” she said. Taylor has been to health fairs, spoken to her peers and adults about their sexual and reproductive health. The impact has been great. “In my circle, I’ve seen people become more aware and more careful. In my teaching, my friends are inspired to join so I am looking to recruit soon,” she said. Other positive elements of her involvement in YAM include the opportunities she has received which include holiday jobs and being part of official training courses on sexual and reproductive health and rights. However, she has faced challenges especially around a lack of contraceptive use among her peers. Putting the open-mindedness into action “You can only educate someone, but you can’t force them to do what you’re promoting. You will have different people asking and you explain to them and show them different ways to approach stuff and they will outright be like ‘OK, I am still going to do my thing. This is how I am used to my thing’. So, they accept the information, but are they practicing the information? People are open minded, but it’s just for them to put the open mindedness into action,” Taylor explained. In addition, Taylor said there are parents who are not open to discussing sexual and reproductive health with their children making it more challenging for young people to access contraception. She suggests that parents either be involved in the advocacy or interventions that target them be implemented. Taylor also expressed a desire to see more detailed classes around sexual and reproductive healthcare in schools. “Implement classes in school that are more detailed than what exists. The current lessons are basic and the most you’ll learn is the menstrual cycle. You’re learning enough to do your exam, not apply to real life. If this is in schools, the doctors and clinics may be more open to the reality that younger people are engaging in sex. To prevent unplanned pregnancies be more open,” Taylor said. She added: “YAM has good intentions. These good intentions are definitely beneficial to the target audience. With more empowerment in the initiative we can move forward and complete the goal on a larger scale.”  

IPPF collaborates with UNAIDS and The PACT to implement ACT!2030 (formerly ACT!2015), a youth-led social action initiative which engages young people in 12 countries with advocacy and accountability around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other SRHR agreements/frameworks. ACT!2030 was initiated in 2013 as a way to increase youth participation in the negotiations leading up to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, and for two years focused on establishing alliances of youth-led and youth-serving organisations in 12 countries across the world. The project is currently in Phase 4, which runs until the end of 2017, and aims to establish youth-led, data-driven accountability mechanisms to ensure youth engagement with the implementation of the SDGs and build an evidence base for advocacy. Ultimately, Phase 4 of ACT!2030 seeks to identify, assess and address key policy barriers to young people’s sexual and reproductive data by using existing data, supplemented by youth-collected data, to advocate and lobby for policy change. This phase involves four main activities: indicator advocacy (persuading decision makers to adopt youth-friendly SRHR and HIV indicators, including on things like comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and access to youth-friendly services, into national/global reporting mechanisms); evidence gathering (creating national databases on quality of and access to youth-friendly services and CSE); communications (transforming this data and evidence into communications pieces that can be used to advocacy and lobby at national and international level); and global exchange (facilitating global visibility to share advocacy and engagement learnings and increase youth-led accountability in global and regional processes). ACT!2030 is implemented by national alliances of youth organisations in 12 countries: Algeria, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.