Reluctance to fully implement the health and family life education (HFLE) programmes in Caribbean schools have been identified as major factors contributing to the high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in the Caribbean, according to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.
The 2013 UNFPA’s State of the World Report indicates that continuous bombardment in the media of programmes and advertisements with sexual overtones have also contributed to the situation.
According to the UNFPA State of World Population report 2013, entitled “Motherhood in Childhood in the Caribbean”, despite the fall in total fertility rate, adolescent birth rates remain relatively high.
It said that among girls aged 15 to 19 years old, the birth rate ranges from 26 to 97 per 1,000 adolescent girls.
Guyana, Belize, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Suriname have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the Caribbean.
UNFPA’s sub-regional office Assistant Representative, Aurora Noguera Ramkissoon, said the reluctance to teach HFLE in schools stems from fear that faith-based organizations may brand the education system as promoting sex instead of empowering young people to abstain.
“There is a kind of dichotomy in the region where we’re very much influenced by our colonial past, our religious past, so there is some reluctance to fully implement the Health and Family Life Education,” Ramkissoon told regional media, at a briefing held on Friday.
Source-CMC
