The practice is very serious because it addresses common concerns about our yearning for beauty. During the period of the MOH’s campaign which denounced skin bleaching, then Minister, Hon. Horace Dally articulated the seriousness of the situation in the following way, “Skin bleaching has become a fast and risky way for young men and women to become beautiful.”

With the association with beauty, skin bleaching has become extremely popular. We all have a desire to feel and be perceived as beautiful, and as such my concerns about how to discourage people from it. We saw in  another article that health concerns weren’t enough to discourage bleachers. After all, doesn’t it make us feel better about ourselves and the way the world sees us? It seems like an uphill battle to me–trying to convince our citizenry to stop destroying their beautiful black skin when the color cards are staked up against them.

The root cause of contemporary skin bleaching practices–stigma and discrimination against Jamaicans of African decent–must be addressed if we are to ward off a skin cancer epidemic in our country. Skin cancer is reported as one of the major causes of death amongst Jamaican citizens and therefore it is just a matter of time before we have a full blown epidemic on our hands. We must therefore strive to change behavior by addressing physical, mental, and symbolic remnants of light-skinned superiority and dark-skinned inferiority which contributes to low self-esteem and confidence.

Our solution to the problem lies in our need to examine what is being done nationally to increase and inspire confidence about the beauty of the black skin and denounce the age old belief/ saying, “Nutten Black nuh Good !”

In managing the HIV Prevention Project since August 2008, I have done a whole lot of planning and research in order to ensure that success was achievable. The success of the Stakeholders Meeting was largely due to my high level of motivation, but I will not dare underestimate the hours that I spent preparing the following documents which also guaranteed my success with the HIV Prevention Advocacy Project–at least from the scientific point of view: Advocacy Plan, Advocacy Monitoring & Evaluation Report, Press Release, Media Advisory, Advocacy Introductory Letter, Stakeholders Meeting Invitation Letter, Advocacy Presentation, Stakeholders Database , Advocacy Meetings via telephone and face-to-face, and Stakeholder Meeting Invitation Cards.

I shared my presentation space with Shellie Ann Anderson a wonderful young woman who I met through the social networking site Facebook, who emerged as Top Recruiter of our Facebook Cause and Group. My Advocacy Presentation focussed on the need to complement HIV Prevention programming with the Internet, specifically Web 2.0 technologies, so as to increase interactivity, inclusiveness, and reaching out to youth through avenues that they are already participating in.

A number of issues were raised by meeting participants, which included the need for the revision of the Jamaica Report Card to reflect changes in the national environment since its publication; the need for it to be sensitive to the culture of Jamaica in terms of the use of terminologies such as: rape, buggery, and cult; and the need for the inclusion of minorities, such as Rastafarians and Musicians in HIV Prevention Programming for Youth.

By the end of the meeting, participants came to consensus that there was need for the following next steps:

1. Update of the Jamaica Report Card (2006),
2. Revise the Draft Youth Declaration to reflect the concerns, recommendations, and gaps articulated by the Stakeholders Meeting participants,
3. Facilitate follow-up meeting with stakeholders, in mid January 2009, who signed the Commitment Form to support the National Working Group (NWG) on HIV Prevention for Youth, and
4. Circulate the revised Youth Declaration to participants who committed to supporting the NWG for their feedback within two weeks subsequent to hosting the Stakeholders Meeting.

Some stakeholders expressed concern about the formation of the NWG, because of their belief that it might represent a duplication of work being done by other working groups and boards, which were formed to oversee HIV/AIDS programming in Jamaica. They reiterated the need for collaboration and partnership as an alternative approach to the formation of an independent NWG.

Check out the following report. I found it on the net earlier. Thanks to the net, as this was lost to me a long time ago. Dr. Peak published it and now am accessing work that I did some years ago, when I was a first time consultant, new mom, and high school teacher. Check it out! Its about sexual and reproductive health (HIV) and the WESTHELP programme. Thanks again Dr. Gerri Lynn Peak for inspiring me.

WESTHELP Jamaica Evaluation Report