General News

Disabled youth informed of sexual and reproductive health and rights

Adolescents and youth with disabilities were recently treated to a Sexual and Reproductive Health Workshop, the third in a series of workshops, hosted by the United Nations Population Fund, at the United Nations House, Marine Gardens, Christ Church, in collaboration with the Barbados Council for the Disabled.

Presenters from the Barbados Family Planning Association, the Child Care Board, the Crisis Centre and the nursing community, were on hand to discuss a range of topics, including โThe Body and How it Worksโ, โUnderstanding Sexuality and Dealing with New Feelingsโ, โProtecting Myself and My Bodyโ, and โIf I am Being Abused ... Who Can I Talk To?โ The hearing impaired youth were also informed about the range of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS, and how to avoid contracting them. All of this information was conveyed with the aid of visuals and sign language instructor Shelayne Gilkes.

Isiuwa Iyahen, Assistant Representative, for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), at the Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean and Barbados, who described the sessions as โtimelyโ, stressed that the UNFPA saw a gap in service provision and as such, decided to host a series of workshops which would cater to different groups within the disabled community, which each have their unique needs.

โThis collaboration we have with the Barbados Council for the Disabled is very timely, because we recognise that all persons have the right to protect themselves from HIV and from unintended pregnancy and that includes the disabled population and disabled young peopleโ.

โUNFPAโs mandate, is to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, and so, we are mainly focusing on preventing HIV, preventing STIs and dealing with issues such as sexual abuseโ she noted. She noted that the idea for the workshops came about after a delegation from the Barbados Council for the Disabled was sent to Jamaica, where UNFPA had successfully been implementing a programme there with the disabled.

โStarting this year, Council members decided that they wanted to start a series of workshops, to test the waters and to see how they would be able to implement certain aspects of the programme that they saw in Jamaica, and tailor these aspects to suit the population here, because the disabled population is diverse. We have persons who are hearing impaired, those who are intellectually impaired, and also those who are physically disabledโ.

โSo that is what the collaboration is about. It is to provide information on sexual and reproductive health and rights, so they are aware of their rights, but then also to provide an opportunity for the disabled to see how they could best adapt the programme to the Barbadian contextโ she outlined.

(RSM)

Email from: MORI, Soya

URL reference: http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=7366