campaignjamaica

Overview

Safer Sex Week Blogathon

Did You Know?

Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network Supports Government's Proposed Referral System, but Recommends Steps to Expand Access to Contraceptives Even Further

Last week, the Ministry of Education made the decision to launch a referral mechanism that will point students to 'child-friendly health services,' where students can access contraceptives. Although this is a step in the direction towards prioritizing young people's reproductive and sexual health needs, condom distribution will continue to be prohibited on campuses.

In response to the government's initiative to provide a referral mechanism for students to access contraceptives, the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) wrote a letter in response to the article posted in the Gleaner, Jamaica's national newspaper.

To read the Gleaner article, click here.

To read JYAN's letter, click here. To read their response in the Gleaner, click here.

According to the Jamaica Reproductive Health Survey of 2002-2003, among youth ages 15 to 24, the mean age at first sexual intercourse was 13.5 among young men and 15.8 among young women
The adolescent fertility rate in Jamaica is the highest among nations in the English-speaking Caribbean, at 112 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19.
In 2004, AIDS was the second leading cause of death for both young men and young women ages 15-24 in Jamaica.

The Campaign:

Advocates for Youth has partnered with Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) to create a youth leadership council to address issues of sexual and reproductive health in Jamaica. This leadership council, Jamaicans Safely Tackling Adolescent and Reproductive health--also known as J-STAR--is working towards achieving the following two objectives:

To lobby for the institutionalization of meaningful youth participation at all levels to influence policy and funding on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Jamaican Youth by 2010.
To advocate for greater integration of HIV/AIDS and family planning programs in an effort to simultaneously reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy, the prevalence of maternal mortality, and STIs, including HIV and AIDS, among Jamaican Youth by 2010.

J-STAR has created an action plan to achieve these two objectives by:

Educating policy makers on the importance of increasing funding for youth development programs;
Educating policy makers on the importance of increasing the number of young people who are involved in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth development programs as well as other initiatives that affect young people;
Increasing public awareness on the impact of HIV/AIDS, violence, unemployment, lack of educational & training opportunities for young people internationally; and
Educating local and international media on the issues affecting young people.

Advocates' Partner in Jamaica: Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network

The Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) is a youth-led initiative that works to develop youth leaders in the areas of advocacy, public education and capacity building in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, violence prevention, care and protection (including persons with disabilities), employment and entrepreneurship, education and training.

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	indecent to society and should never be aired
	creative musical fun
	fit for the dancehall setting only
	over-discussed, hence over-played and over-exposed