Improve sexual and reproductive health messaging

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Undeniably, we have made some progress in recent years when it comes to promoting sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights. Two positive steps made were the deployment of over 200 Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) teachers across the primary and secondary levels of education. And the opening of the teen hub in St. Thomas in June 2023.

However, as we should do in all aspects of our lives, we must constantly assess how we can improve things. We’d like to posit that messaging around SRH issues such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among youths and teenage pregnancy must be improved.

In 2020, there were 618 new cases of HIV in Jamaica. Young people ages 15-24 years accounted for 16 per cent of the new infections. Women aged 25-29 accounted for the second-highest rate of new infections in 2022.

Additionally, The World Health Organization records that Jamaica has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the Caribbean region, with over 60 per cent of all pregnancies occurring among young women between 15 and 19 years of age. Dr Tazhimoye Crawford in a 2018 study posited that adolescent fathers are less likely to achieve high economic growth due to delays in career pursuits would be further amplified if there isn’t any psychosocial support from family.

Considering these facts, can we honestly say that our message is impacting its intended audience?

Equality for All Foundation conducted a Sex Positivity Study in September 2022, it highlighted the fact that a disease-oriented approach to public health and sexual and reproductive rights will ultimately not have a sustained impact on sexual practices, responsibility, and satisfaction.

With that as precedence, I’d like to make a few recommendations that directly deal with how to effectively package SRH messages to ensure maximum impact on the intended audience:

– Listen to your audience: more needs to be done to understand how young people perceive SRH messages and their impact on their sexual practices. Also, we should understand how they would like to receive the message.

– Integrate sex positivity in the SRH Messaging. Numerous studies have proven that young people are having unprotected sex. The integration of sex positivity in sexual education and sexual and reproductive rights is associated with improved attitudes towards condom use, contraceptive use, lower incidence of STIs, and fewer unplanned pregnancies.

– Fast track the development of the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy that governs the education and distribution of age-appropriate SRH Information.

– Fast-track the establishment of the teen hubs across urban centres and train the facilitators in strategically delivering the information in a manner that appeals to the dignity of young people and encourages responsible autonomy.

JAEMAR JOHNSON

Policy and Advocacy Officer

Jamaican Network of

Seropositives