UNFPA director: Combat unplanned pregnancies

UN Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director Dr Natalia Kanem has urged TT to continue the efforts started by its first prime minister Dr Eric Williams to deal with unplanned pregnancies and all issues related to it.

She made this statement when she delivered the feature address at the Eric Williams Memorial Lecture series at the Central Bank auditorium in Port of Spain on Friday. Kamen said Williams was no stranger to this as the first of 12 children, who had to help his mother sell bread and cakes on the streets of Port of Spain to help supplement his family's meagre income.

Saying Williams spoke about this in his book Inward Hunger, Kamen said Williams understood that the consequences of uncontrolled fertility and a lack of choice for women "are no joke." She said the challenges of unplanned pregnancies continue today. "Every minute, 23 girls under the age of 18 are married around the world. Many of these marriages are forced or coerced," Kamen said.

She also disclosed, "At least 15 million teenage girls worldwide have been forced into sex, often by partners, relatives or acquaintances. Yet only one in 100 will seek help." Kamen said in many countries, flawed policies leave adolescents in a catch-22 position where the law tells them they can consent to sexual activity at 16 but they cannot access sexual and reproductive health services without parental consent until they are 18.

While there is pushback on these issues from many quarters, Kamen said the evidence clearly shows that "comprehensive sexuality education does not lead to earlier or riskier sexual behaviour." She added, "In fact, it reduces risky behaviours." Kamen opined that if a direct investment is made in adolescent girls, that investment can also be one on her family and community. She said efforts must also be made to reach boys in order to change some of the "negative masculinities that foster and perpetuate gender-based violence and discrimination."

Kamen acknowledged the efforts of TT and other Caribbean countries to empower women and girls and lifting up young people. She said Caribbean countries should use the International Conference on Population and Development 25 conference in Nairobi, Kenya in November as an opportunity to promote issues such as gender equality and access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Kamen added this will help "renew the call for sustainable development and rights for all." She praised TT for efforts it has made since 1962 to develop "explicit and implicit national and sectoral population policies to drive economic and social development." Kamen opined that today, TT is strategically positioned to "move forward with an integrated rights-based approach to sustainable development."