“Awful” we all will say. And where is this?

You may not believe this or want to believe this but it is here in the Cayman Islands.

Yes, it is a very sad fact but it is true. Last week the Pan American Health Organization published a report they conducted here in the Cayman Islands two years ago. Almost 1,000 boys and girls aged 15 -19 took part in the study designed to assess the health and sexuality of Caymanian teenagers.

It is astonishing this report has taken so long to be published. It raised a catalogue of health risks for local teenagers with some recommendations that the government introduce initiatives to “increase the capacities of families, schools and health care workers to enhance their emotional support and education of young people. Concerted efforts should be made to combat violence and abuse of and between young people. Such efforts should take account of the highly gendered nature of violence and develop complementary programmes for girls/ young women and boys/ young men.”

The stats in the report are alarming:

18% of girls are victims of sexual abuse
22% of girls face real physical violence
1/3rd of teenage girls (who took part in report) said drinking, mental health problems, drug use or violence common in their homes.
16.5% teens have been physically abused or mistreated. (Defined as “when someone causes you to have a scar, black and blue marks, welts, bleeding or a broken bone”)
More than twice as many females over males have been physically abused.
50% of those surveyed admitted to being sexually active.
11% of boys had sex by the age of 10.
5.2% of girls had sex by the age of 10.
21.5% of boys sexually active by age of 12
9% of girls sexually active by age of 12.
20% of girls said first sexual experience was forced.
Women and girls had poorer mental health partially due to the “sexual abuse and violence against them, especially in the domestic space”.
Boys face violence in public space associated with cultural pressures to assert “hard masculinities”.
Boys “under pressure” to engage in sex with multiple partners.
280 teens go hungry as there is not enough food in their homes.

The objective of the report was to assess “adolescents’ health, with emphasis on HIV and sexual and reproductive, to strengthen existing services for young people and to inform the development of targeted interventions, while providing baseline data”.

Premier Alden McLaughlin said the report provided “a solid baseline from which government ministries and departments can now work along with relevant non-governmental organisations, in order to improve the state of health and wellbeing of the adolescents of our country. Enacting recommendations and initiatives based upon this report is now one of the priorities of this ministry.”

And it should be #1 priority not just “one of the priorities of this ministry.”

Actions speak louder than words and for two years there hasn’t been any words. So when is there to be an action plan formulated and when will it be enacted upon?

Will we wait another 2 years for an answer?

In the meantime teens will increasingly face violence, sexual abuse and mental health problems.

And this problem is worldwide. See iNews Cayman story today “Forced C-section “more healthy” for pregnant 10-year old rape victim”