ARGUING that the message of abstinence has failed to reach teens, several entities engaged in the provision of sexual and reproductive health services are of the opinion that preaching access to services will yield more positive results.

“What I don’t think people are recognising is that the agencies who work together on this are not trying to purport just give out condoms, just fly the doors. It’s nothing like that at all, it really is about, not just the dialogue that needs to happen, but just to be honest with ourselves as a nation and face [the] reality that our children are in serious problems and they need an urgent response,” Ruth Chisholm, country programme manager for Population Services International/Caribbean told the weekly Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange yesterday.

“It is nothing like that, it is a spirit of protection and prevention. These are the same young people who are graduating into society with the same things we have been fighting over the years,” Chisholm contended.

According to Dr Sharlene Jarrett of the National Family Planning Board (NFPB), data have shown that the abstinence message has fallen short of its objectives.

“In 2006/07 we had a campaign ‘Abstinence Makes Sense’, but one of the things we know about abstinence is that… the message doesn’t work. Studies in America, where they have been pushing that, show that it didn’t work and they spent a lot of money on it,” she told editors and reporters.

She however said the message of abstinence has not been left out of the advocacy, but argued that it cannot stand on its own.

“We talk about abstinence but we don’t go to schools and [to] the teenagers and say ‘this is the way’, because we would be using something that data doesn’t support,” said Dr Jarrett.

“And so… we need them to understand how to negotiate for delay, how to negotiate for condom use if it comes down to that, how to seek support,” Dr Jarrett said.

“When we deny them services, that pushes the kids underground; they seek out illegal means which put their lives at risk. We are not saying we are promoting how they should have good, healthy sex lives, we are really saying they should understand what sex is about and that they should be able to protect themselves,” she said.

Dr Jarrett pointed out that the 2008 reproductive health survey showed that the teenage pregnancy rate has declined significantly to 72 per 1,000 — the lowest it has ever been in the country.

“The messages have reached adolescents, but I don’t think it’s just the messages, there is really more access to services,” she said.

Meanwhile, assistant representative at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Melissa McNeil-Barrett noted that while some young persons are abstaining from sex, the reality is that their peers are active.

She said the Ministry of Health had engaged stakeholders such as UNFPA for solutions which could further help in the delivery of services to this group, a number of whom are underaged.

“The age of consent, based on the law, is 16 and of course if a child is under 16 and they are active there is a barrier to your delivering sexual reproductive health services. It is a major dialogue that is now ongoing with the Ministry of Health,” McNeil-Barrett said.

“Just recently the minister of health, during dialogue on those issues, said if it was a simple issue we would have resolved it a long time ago, but it really requires an intense dialogue between justice, education, health, and each sector has to really see where the gaps are and how we can make inroads around them,” she noted.