Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115154

Eileen A. Yam, MPH, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Panzacola 62 Int 102, Col Villa Coyoacan, Mexico City 04000, Mexico, 52-55-5999-8630, eyam@popcouncil.org.mx, Sandra G. Garcia, ScM, ScD, Director of Reproductive Health for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean - Mexico City, c/o One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017, Garth A. McIntyre, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of the West Indies, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bridgetown, Barbados, Georgiana Gordon-Strachan, PhD, Ministry of Health of Jamaica, 224 Kings St, Kingston, Jamaica, and Horace Fletcher, MD, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Child Health, The University of the West Indies at Mona, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica.

Family planning nurses, pharmacists, OB/GYNs, and general practitioners serve as important gatekeepers to information about and access to emergency contraception. These providers directly affect women's access to and acceptance of emergency contraception, and their support for or opposition to the method can influence policies that regulate its availability. However, previous studies have demonstrated low awareness of emergency contraception among health providers in several countries. In English-speaking Caribbean nations, where rates of unplanned pregnancy are high, we know little about these providers' awareness of, attitudes toward, and practices regarding emergency contraception. Barbados and Jamaica are two of the largest and most influential English-speaking Caribbean nations, and experience in and support for emergency contraception on these large islands likely have an impact on neighboring countries. Jamaica, for example, was one of the first Caribbean countries to approve oral contraceptives for use as emergency contraceptive pills in the early 1980s. We seek to document the emergency contraception knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health providers in these two countries. In Barbados, we are conducting an interviewer-administered knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey of the entire census of public family planning nurses (n=45), pharmacists (n=102), OB/GYNs (n=14), and general practitioners (n=140). In Jamaica, our sample consists of the entire census of Kingston area OB/GYNs (n=51) and public family planning nurses (n=34), and a random sample of Kingston area pharmacists (n=150) and general practitioners (n=170). We expect to have results upon completion of data collection in summer 2005.

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