Population Council Projects | Improving the Reproductive Health of Young People in Mexico

PROJECT
Improving the Reproductive Health of Young People in Mexico

Mexico’s 30 million adolescents experience high rates of unwanted pregnancy, maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) compared to the general population. This situation is the result, in part, of low rates of contraceptive use and poor access to contraceptives. The goal of this project was to improve the health of young people by providing evidence of and raising awareness about their contraceptive and family planning needs and creating effective strategies to meet them, as well as by strengthening public- and private-sector capacity to respond to those needs in priority locations in Mexico.

Project activities included a comprehensive package of policy analysis and tools, technical assistance, and training. These were spread across three sectors (NGO, public, and private) in selected states as well as at the federal level. To that end, Population Council staff members carried out a technical collaboration with Semillas, a local women’s fund that issues small grants primarily to Mexican women-headed NGOs, including several that focus specifically on youth sexual and reproductive health. Staff members trained Semillas staff in how to conduct high-quality monitoring and evaluation of its grantees’ work.

Project activities, developed in collaboration with the local research and evaluation organization INSAD (Investigación en Salud y Demografía) consisted of a series of training workshops on monitoring and evaluation, as well as the development of a resource manual in Spanish. Council staff members also collaborated with a community-based youth project entitled “FEMAP por una Juventud Sana” aimed at increasing youth awareness and empowerment regarding their own sexual and reproductive health needs. Staff worked with FEMAP to design and implement quantitative and qualitative studies to evaluate a community-based collaboration with local youth NGOs in four Mexican cities: Ciudad Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Jalapa, and Veracruz.

Public-sector activities focused mainly on providing expert testimony to key policy groups and technical input into the Ministry of Health’s proposed text for inclusion of emergency contraception (EC) into the Official Mexican Family Planning Norms in January 2004. Council researchers also developed policy fact briefs on youth sexual and reproductive health and, in the private sector, were able to recruit and train personnel from 85 pharmacies across four priority states and establish these participating businesses as “youth-friendly.” In October 2003, staff members also hosted a national youth sexual and reproductive health conference. This prestigious event, held at the Colegio de México, was attended by more than 100 researchers, advocates, and clinicians from across the country. That same year, the Population Council also collaborated with local NGOs MEXFAM, Ipas-Mexico, and Mujeres en Frecuencia to produce and air a weekly radio talk show aimed at Mexico City youth on a range of sexual and reproductive health issues.

Location

Mexico

Duration

July 2002–July 2005

Population Council researchers

Sandra Garcia, Eileen Yam

Non-Council collaborators

Jennifer Catino (EngenderHealth)

Ingrid Dries-Daffner (Pharmacy Access Project)

Lisa A. Goldman (Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley)

Guillermina Herrera (independent consultant)

Federación Mexicana de Asociaciones Privadas de Desarrollo Comunitario (FEMAP)

Investigación en Salud y Demografía (INSAD)

Ipas-Mexico

MEXFAM

Mujeres en Frecuencia

Semillas, AC

Donors

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Publications/Resources
Council researchers' names appear in boldface type.

2005
"Los y las jóvenes y su derecho a la planificación familiar" [Young people and their right to family planning], Información Jóvenes México no. 1. Mexico City: Population Council. (PDF)

"La salud reproductiva de los y las jóvenes de áreas rurales" [Reproductive health of young people in rural areas], Información Jóvenes México no. 2. Mexico City: Population Council. (PDF)

"Cómo pueden las y los jóvenes comunicarse en temas de sexualidad y planificación familiar" [How to talk to young people about sexuality and family planning], Información Jóvenes México no. 3. Mexico City: Population Council. (PDF)