Later that week I am invited to the first ever youth worker coalition meeting in my municipality. At the table sit the directors of both high schools, the non-profits who work with youth, the youth leader from the mayor’s office, the maternity home who also runs a youth health promoter club, Peace Corps volunteers, the director of the Ministry of Family Services, and several Ministry of Health personnel. At the meeting we review the alarmingly high incidence rates of teenage pregnancy and STIs within the urban area of our municipality.
I think back to the high school classroom. I can say with confidence these students know the importance of protecting themselves and their partners by using condoms, they know how to use them, and they know where to find them. So why do we continue to have these issues?
Upon this reflection it became clear to me that the youth need to go to the hospital and ask the nurse for some condoms. Sounds easy enough. However, the nurse in charge of condom distribution is their classmate’s mother. Will she give them condoms? Will she tell their parents? Will they receive a speech on abstinence? Apparently, most youth are too embarrassed, nervous, and fearful to find out.
I am reminded of the Safe Place program we have in the states for runaway youth. Any runaway youth can receive free assistance from the businesses that hang the Safe Place logo in their window. You see the logo, you get the help. With this model as my inspiration, I pitched the idea of providing the same free condoms available at the hospitals in various locations throughout town, with a logo serving as the indicator.
On the heels of the presentation, all parties at the table promptly accepted the idea.
A week later we had a policies and procedures document, a slogan, and a logo. My counterpart at the Ministry of Health and I collaborated to write the policies and procedures. We agreed upon measures of ensuring anonymity and confidentiality, while also keeping track of data the Ministry requires such as sex, approximate age, and quantity of distributed condoms.
The slogan and logo were developed with the help of a youth focus group. The group consisted of mainly male youth. After a fun hour of brainstorming slogans, the group voted on “Hacelo Bien”, meaning, “Do it Well”. The group thought this was the most fitting slogan since it catches the attention of youth, as it is full of innuendo and double meanings.
Since starting this access to condoms campaign, I continue to provide condom demonstrations to the youth. However, my focus has shifted a bit. I now spend the majority of the session on condom negation. The youth are presented with phrases their partner, either male or female, might say to them to avoid using a condom, and they need to come up with responses in favor of using protection. To top it off, I reveal to the students that I have recently been shown the STI rates for youth in their town. I emphasize that many of their friends have STIs and they should protect themselves. This always gets their attention! I then finish the session by inviting the school counselor to say a few words on condom availability through her at school. Some youth express concern regarding confidentiality and at that point the school counselor ensures their interactions with her will stay between them.
This is the first time condoms have been made available in high schools!
Furthermore, we are working with small business owners who are also trained health promoters to make the condoms available at their stores. Once they are trained in the confidentiality procedures and equipped with the condoms, we will provide the youth with a map of the urban area showing exactly where the stores are. In case any youth is confused, they will know that wherever they see the “Hacelo Bien” slogan and logo, they can get free condoms with no hassle.
Now the youth know why they should use condoms, how to use them, how to negotiate the use of them, and where to safely and freely get them! I expect to see a decrease in STIs and pregnancy rates amongst youth at a future coalition meeting.