EXECUTIVE Director of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) Dr Zoe Simpson says evidence from the centre’s recruitment activities has shown a decline in pregnancy among teenagers.
“We have not done the empirical research; however, by virtue of the fact that we recruit on the ground at the health centres and hospitals, we are not interfacing with as many (pregnant teens) as we were five years ago. So just anecdotally, it really seems that the numbers are trending down,” she said.
She said the last research on teen pregnancy in Jamaica was done in 2008.
Dr Simpson was speaking with
JIS News after a tour of the WCJF’s Kingston campus by wife of the prime minister, Juliet Holness.
The centre assists adolescent girls, 17 years and younger, who become pregnant while in school, to complete their secondary education.
Dr Simpson explained that recruitment is carried out at health centres and hospitals, where the young women receive antenatal and postnatal care and deliver their babies.
She said that the programme has been quite successful in its mandate to assist teen mothers to pursue their goals by offering academic instruction, individual and group counselling sessions, and childcare services.
She added that a key part of the programme of intervention is contraceptive counselling in order to delay second pregnancies.
The executive director noted that 52 per cent of teens who do not receive intervention and counselling, or complete their secondary education, have second pregnancies.
“The second pregnancy rate has remained below two per cent among the girls who access this programme of intervention,” she said.
The WCJF, she said, is an important support system for teen mothers and has encouraged more of them to access the intervention.
To date, more than 45,000 teen mothers have been assisted through the programme, with graduates pursuing higher education or being gainfully employed.
“I want to commend us as a country because it really does seem that our efforts are bearing fruit. We’re not comfortable because the numbers are still very high and we have a lot of work to do yet, but we look forward to the day when the numbers are really at the best,” she said.
Pleased to see this.
Great news on Independence Day!
I love you MET…..
:peluk
But den it muss gone dung cause man a f**k man gal a sleep wid gal. Ano like 1st time. When buddy sweet all chu di grill gal f**k an breed.
You are right on both counts. I have never seen so many lesbians in Jamaica like what it is now…from one end of the island to the next. Your last sentence is very funny.
Latty a true,Jamaica deh get too Americanized but then again women now a day’s naaw have more the 1 r 2 pickney n that is good bcuz a child well get better care n attention..Jamaica is growning in the rite direction is just the crime yu nu..Wen mi si some picture a people a Jamaica mi a fi wonda if a Jamaica fi real..thank again MET u make my day don’t know wat u look like but I’m gonna masturbate to u lata..Lollllllll
BATTY MAN RATE A SKY ROCKET. so that explains why teenage pregnancy doing down……its simple logics…..
Damn right! and de likkle gal dem a suck front…we soon nah no recorded birth in a year :hammer
Lmao@ max comment. This is good news
I heard(don’t know if its true) that its a drug that was developed and was given to curve the growing black population why you have an unexplainable amount of the black population born gay both in jamaica and in the US! I heard it is given to a significant portion of babies born after 1990 in the form of an injection disguise as vaccine and the doctors and nurses at the hospitals doesn’t even know! I heard its done in the US to curb the growing so called minority population blacks, hispanics etc. and I heard it was done in jamaica to shove in our face for being HOMOPHIBIC and unreceptive to gays! once again I heard this one I don’t know for certain! also there was some type of whistle – blowing by a scientist in the US but its still murkey!
:travel
Latty and Asha mopar talking Facts!!!!!!! This is the Only explanation as to why the rate is down