PRESIDENT and CEO of Scotia Group Jacqueline Sharp last Tuesday stressed the importance of family doctors and their role in identifying children at risk, especially as it relates to adolescent pregnancy, child abuse and violence.

Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate World Family Doctor Day at Mandela Park in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew, Sharp said health care providers play a critical role in supporting appropriate sexuality among teens and reducing teen pregnancy rates, through the care they provide to adolescent patients.

“Take for example the early sexual exposure and pregnancy of so many of Jamaican teenage girls,” Sharpe said. “According to the 2008 Reproductive Health Survey, the mean age at first intercourse for females 15-17 [in] Jamaica is 14.4 years.

“In the Caribbean, about half of the girls who have sex during adolescence experienced their sexual debut by age 12, making them victims of a sex crime,” she continued. “About one in 10 of these incidents are forced, and others occur in circumstances involving transactional, inter-generational or coerced sex.”

The Scotia Group CEO said teen sex crosses all social and economic classes, but statistics also show that poverty makes girls more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and adolescent pregnancy.

“According to the United Nations Population Fund, Jamaica has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the Caribbean, with 18 per cent of all births in Jamaica occurring to teenagers,” Sharp shared. “It is also estimated that up to 80 per cent of first pregnancies among youth aged 15-24 are mistimed, unplanned or unwanted.”

Sharp said many of these girls are from poor communities and get little support from the fathers in bringing up their children, adding that because of their “incomplete education,” they have difficulty finding fulfilling employment, and they get caught in the cycle of poverty.

“Teens need access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health counselling about the importance of delaying sexual activity and about their contraceptive options, Sharp insisted, while speaking to health care providers gathered at Mandela Park, which also featured a health fair. “While you might say that this is the job of the parent or teachers at school, your position as an influencer gives you both great power and great responsibility.

“You are best placed to identify children at risk. Together with social services and education, you promote programmes that teach and enhance parenting skills so that parents can play a more effective role with their children,” she said.

While acknowledging that there are existing programmes being organised by doctors to reduce teenage pregnancies, like the team at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital that work on prevention methods for teens already pregnant to reduce the chances of a repeat experience which is led by Dr Rudolph Stephens, Sharp questioned whether more can be done.

“How can you promote youth reproductive health in your agenda? Are there programmes you can be involved with to help share the message?” she asked. “And from an advocacy standpoint, are there policies you can recommend that would help change these behaviours?”

She also applauded doctors for the work they have been doing, admitting that their job is not easy.

She insisted though that it is not only a job for doctors, adding that the Scotia Foundation has been doing its part, through, among other things, a recently hosted conference titled ‘Girls Empowered for Motherhood and Success’, or GEMS, to encourage conversations on parenting as a choice, and raising personal standards.

“You have been integral to the improvements that we have enjoyed in primary health care, and the efforts are evident in the numbers. According to the Pan American Health Organization, life expectancy at birth in Jamaica is now 73.1 years,” Sharp noted.

Meanwhile, other speakers joined Sharp in commending family doctors on their stellar services and encouraging them to continue to make a difference in the lives of the patients with whom you interact.