Men are key players in reducing teenage pregnancy – GRPA official

Oct 19, 2014 News

At their Annual General Meeting last Tuesday, the Guyana Responsible Parenthood

Musical band ‘Keep Your Day Job’ performing at GRPA Annual General Meeting

Association (GRPA) announced a Campaign for Breast Examination and Cervical Cancer Screening, which will be held from October 27 to 31at its clinic, on Quamina Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown.
Free examination services will be offered during the campaign.
The campaign was launched in observation of Breast Cancer Awareness Month which is currently ongoing and falls within the perimeters of the services that the institute provides. The GRPA serves as a health clinic which conducts testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), facilitates examination for certain cancers and provides counseling on family planning methods along with issues concerning sexual health.
In addition to bringing awareness to breast cancer, the occasion calls for greater sensitivity and education among citizens on reproductive health, especially men as they have been overlooked from the conversation. The result of this, according to the President of GRPA Pamela Nauth, has contributed to high underage birth rates as “men and boys are key players in reducing teenage pregnancy in the region”.
Guyana has the second highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the Caribbean and South America, with 97 out of every 1000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 affected.
Over the last 41 years, Nauth highlighted that the agency has been an active entity in administering a variety of the initiative and projects that address sexual health and reproduction. However she criticized that there needs to be a change in the “abstinence only policy” that has dominated sexual education amongst teenagers. The president posited that the institution is fully behind “comprehensive sex education” as the youth arm of the organization, the Youth Advocacy Movement, has been providing appropriate information on the matter to their peers around the country.
Meanwhile, Deputy Representative Officer of UNICEF, Abheet Solomon reiterated the importance of family planning programmes for a country like Guyana.
“Teenage pregnancy continues the cycle of poverty, as young girls who become pregnant are unable to continue their education, become unemployed due to under qualification”, said Solomon. He also stated that 7.3 million girls become pregnant before the age of adulthood which is why family planning is imperative to reducing poverty.
The UN official explained that life skills and quality education are vital for young people to achieve their life goals, commending the GRPA/FPAG initiatives in advancing family planning directives.
GRPA also received praise from Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud, who not only lauded their efforts in preventative measures against teenage pregnancy, but their endeavors to also provide safe medical termination of pregnancy for women. These have helped to decrease the pregnancy mortality rates.
Today, the institution will be hosting a public workshop that will focus on reproductive health and breast cancer which will be located at the Cara Lodge Conference Room, on Quamina Street from 10:00hrs to 13:00hrs.