RTK - Jamaica Field

"I learned things I never knew about how to get my friends to communicate and participate."

A warm breeze blows through an open-air classroom in Spanish Town as a group of young people cluster around a large map of their community. “Dat shop — da lady she scold me f'askin,'” says a young man. Damian Brown, a peer educator, whips out a coloured marker and responds by placing a black mark on one of the street corners.

The young people are creating a map of their community with unusual highlights: it indicates the location of “youth-friendly” shops where they can buy condoms, and also notes where the youths have encountered disapproving store owners.

“These kids are smart,” says Brown, who works with Children First, a Jamaican organisation that assists children who work, live on the street, or are otherwise at risk. “They know how to get around. And they don't believe they should be hassled for getting condoms.”

The mapping exercise is just one of a number of activities under the “participatory action research” phase of the Right to Know Initiative. Jamaica is one of 14 countries participating in the Initiative that addresses the need for young people to be adequately informed of the basic facts about HIV/AIDS.

The importance of informing young people about HIV/AIDS stems from sobering facts: In Jamaica, the number of reported new HIV infections in adolescents has increased each year since 1995. Around the world, over 6,000 adolescents are infected with HIV daily. Many of these young people never had a chance to protect themselves: they have no access to accurate information, life skills or even health services. The Right to Know Initiative is tackling this problem at its root — mobilising youth and replacing ignorance with practical knowledge.

Children First launched the Right to Know Initiative in July, 2002; since then, approximately 120 teens have participated. Research activities that they have undertaken include condom mapping and molding dough to illustrate some of the problems they encounter daily. “We asked them, ‘who in your community is having sex with children?' And they would mould it,” explains Brown. “Sometimes they were very emotional because they were the victims. We would stop, and do counseling with them. This research is a way to find out what is happening to children in their community.”

Other activities include meetings with small youth-led groups who share information and assessing the efficacy of the interventions they have tried.

Natalie Patterson, 18, was trained as a facilitator in the Initiative. She reflects, “It was good to just share information with other teenagers, and to feel like we were participating in the process.”

Lisa Mills, 14, adds, “I learned things I never knew about how to get my friends to communicate and participate.”

The youth research has led Children First to advocate for changes in Spanish Town. A new wellness centre now offers condoms to youths who request them, and discussions are underway about installing condom vending machines in the community. Young facilitators from Children First have counseled storeowners and health care providers on how to deliver youth-friendly services. In several cases, the group has notified parents and the police about cases of sexual abuse that they have learned about from their work with young people.

“Right to Know has helped us to realise that there are many ways to get information from young people about what is going on in their lives,” says Brown. “It also helps us teach people and share lifesaving information with each other.”

THE RIGHT TO KNOW PROJECT
10 fundamental facts that young people have the right to know:

1. AIDS is an incurable but preventable disease. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, spreads through unprotected sex (intercourse without a condom), transfusions of unscreened blood, contaminated needles and syringes (most often those used for injecting drugs), and from an infected woman to her child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
2. All people, including children, are at risk for HIV/AIDS. Everyone needs information and education about the disease and access to condoms to reduce this risk.
3. Anyone who suspects that he or she might be infected with HIV should contact a health worker or an HIV/AIDS centre to receive confidential counseling and testing.
4. The risk of getting HIV through sex can be reduced if people don't have sex, if they reduce the number of sex partners, if uninfected partners have sex only with each other, or if people have safer sex – sex without penetration or while using a condom. Correct and consistent use of condoms can save lives by preventing the spread of HIV.
5. Girls are especially vulnerable to HIV infection and need support to protect themselves and be protected against unwanted and unsafe sex.
6. Parents and teachers can help young people protect themselves from HIV/AIDS by talking with them about how to avoid getting and spreading the disease, including the correct and consistent use of male or female condoms.
7. HIV infection can be passed from a mother to her child during pregnancy or childbirth or through breastfeeding. Pregnant women or new mothers who are infected with HIV, or suspect that they are infected, should consult a qualified health worker to seek testing and counseling.
8. HIV can be spread by unsterilised needles or syringes, most often those used for injecting drugs. Used razor blades, knives or tools that cut or pierce the skin also carry some risk of spreading HIV.
9. People who have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) are at greater risk of getting HIV and of spreading HIV to others. People with STIs should seek prompt treatment and avoid sexual intercourse or practice safer sex (non-penetrative sex or sex using a condom).
10. Discriminating against people who are infected with HIV/AIDS or anyone thought to be at risk of infection violates individual human rights and endangers public health. Everyone infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS deserves compassion and support.

Source:
UNICEF Right to Know Initiative, November 2002.