Show, no show and sterilzation

The study investigates the factors involved in the decision of a sample of women to break appointments for sterilizations at the Fertility Management Unit of the University of the West Indies. A case control study involved 50 women who did not show up (no-shows) and an equal number who did show up (shows) over the same period. The no-shows had spent a shorter time in their current union than the shows, and some had no children for their partners at the time the appointments were made. Marriage was the single most important event that would encourage the no-shows to consider sterilization in the future. As long as poor women see child bearing as a precondition for financial assistance from spouses, they will hesitate to give up this capability.

How we were grown: cultural aspects of high-risk sexual behaviour in Jamaica

Paper states that based on a collection of over twenty ethnographic interviews of informants selected from a national sample of Jamaicans, "How we were grown" examines three issues, 1) sexual socialisation and value formation; 2) the establishment and maintenance of multiple relations; and (3) the use and non-use of the condom. Focuses on the role of culture in shaping and informing sexual conduct. Argues that Jamaicans are socialised to adopt a guilt-free, pleasure-oriented attitude to sex; that whereas male multiple relationships arise from cultural perceptions of gender, female multiple relationships are prompted by deterioration in the quality of primary unions. Shows how cultural norms of aesthetics and feelings of trust determine Jamaicans' approach to sexual intercourse, and considers the implications for policy of a clash between embedded cultural values and pragmatism.

Situation analysis of the status of children and women in St. Kitts and Nevis

Examines the status of women and children in St. Kitts and Nevis. Presents an overview of the political, social and economic conditions. Looks at the status of children by examining infant mortality, health, nutrition, education, and delinquency. In examining the status of women, it looks at health, reproduction, and economic involvement. It then considers the underlying causes, structural causes and then makes recommendations relating to health education, community participation, food production, child development and job provision.