Children, Sex, HIV

The widespread child pornography being showcase via cell phones across Jamaica has fueled concerns that more adolescents are practicing high-risk sexual behaviour that makes them vulnerable to HIV and STIs.

A recent study by the National HIV/STI Programme showed that of 3000 in-school youth (10 to 15 years old) 12% of surveyed adolescents were sexually active and of these, 56% had two or more partners (including 18% of respondents who had 6 or more partners) and 48% of male youth reported no condom use at last sex. Although most adolescents agreed to their first sexual encounter, 9% of boys and 24% of girls reported that they were forced to have sex on their first sexual encounter.

Of the country’s 2.7 million some 290,000 of the population are adolescents. Risky behaviours such as multiple sex partners, early initiation of sex, and non-use of condoms have fuelled the HIV prevalence rate of 1.3 percent among this group.

But youths, who participated in a recent Panos Caribbean workshop for journalist in Ocho Rios, complained that boring lessons and adults’ experience about sex influence their negative reaction towards the impact of the disease.

Panos youth journalist, Javaune Simpson noted that “training popular young people to teach their peers, using artistes and other popular role models to and music to entertain and teach will to help spread the message about HIV more effectively”.


Nevertheless, Programme Manager for Policy in the Ministry of Health’s National HIV/STI Programme, Faith Hamer noted that in an effort to caution teens on their behaviour and reach ‘Universal Access’ by 2010, “we have begun to improve the self efficacy of adolescents to practice safer sexual behaviours that is; delaying sex, consistent condom use, appropriate risk assessment and increase awareness about HIV/AIDS/STI”.