During the recently convened Regional Civil Society Forum held in Kingston Jamaica, stakeholders in the HIV and human rights response from across the Caribbean, took a closer look at the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls. The regional advocates waded through familiar issues to put forward practical next steps which included equipping parents, training providers and teachers, and pushing for regional policy coherence.
The panelists tackling the issue of sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls included; Alexandrina Wong from Antigua and Barbuda’s Women Against Rape, Charrice Talbert from Belize’s Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian/Bisexual women (PETAL), Diane Weekes from Trinidad and Tobago’s Coalition of Positive Women (TTCW+) and Yvonne Beckford from Woman Incorporated based in Jamaica.
Participants agreed that Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) remains a flashpoint, but also a necessity. Alexandrina Wong flagged what she called persistent “pushback from religious groups and some parents,” noting that many parents “don’t know how to have that conversation” or avoid it altogether. She highlighted service gaps for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women due to limited provider training and pointed to legal barriers for adolescents, such as parental permission requirements that can block treatment even when the age of consent is 16. “It feels like we go six steps forward and eight steps backward,” said Wong. Cultural myths also persist: some communities still see menstrual changes from certain contraceptives as “bad blood” being “collected.”
From Trinidad and Tobago, Diane Weeks was blunt about political bottlenecks and misplaced priorities. “There’s no political will,” she said. “We’re too reactive… rather than pump funds into ensuring access to care, we prefer to buy medication to treat.” Weeks urged an adult conversation about the realities young people face, “let us also talk about transactional sex” and called for accountability from adults and institutions alike: “All we do is talk… me tired.” She also described school-based constraints that prevent frank education, “you cannot…speak about penis and vagina…in 2025”, despite documented risks, citing “eight pregnant young women under the age of 16 and over 20-something cases of confirmed STIs” at a single school.
Charisse Talbert of PETAL in Belize underscored how politics and religion narrow what students learn. “Our comprehensive sexual education is not comprehensive. It’s very limited,” she said, adding that religious blocs can pressure politicians with some even pointing out that “in one text blast, we can reach 15,000 members”, to stall reforms. In that vacuum, harmful practices take root: some girls “don’t have vaginal sex because they don’t want to get pregnant,” she said, “so they have anal sex, and they’re not having protective anal sex.” Teachers’ discomfort compounds the problem: “Even if it gets into the curriculum…the teachers are still uncomfortable,” Talbert noted.
Meanwhile Yvonne Beckford of Women Incorporated argued for restoring parents to the center of learning, “parents should be the first teacher” while acknowledging the fear teachers feel when addressing sexuality in classrooms. That sparked a rich exchange on what “better parenting” looks like in contexts of poverty and long work hours. One participant cautioned that immediate survival needs often outrank health education: for single mothers working “12, 13, 14 hour shifts,” conversations about sex may simply not be possible, and “the void is being filled at school.”
At the end of the discussion, a shared agenda emerged. First, resource and train parents with CSOs supporting practical, judgment-free conversations at home. Second, build teacher and provider capacity so classrooms and clinics become safe, informed spaces for girls and young women, including lesbian, bisexual and transgender learners. Third, align policy with reality: remove legal contradictions that block adolescents from timely care, and pursue regional consensus where national politics stall progress. As Alexandrina Wong puts it, the barriers are social, legal, and cultural and so must be the solutions.
The message from the room was urgent but hopeful – start with parents, strengthen systems, and stand together until every girl in the Caribbean has the knowledge, agency, and care she needs.
