I am mentioned in this week’s New York Magazine feature on the 50th anniversary of the Pill: http://nymag.com

Alexander Sanger, Chair International Planned Parenthood Council

Today’s announcement by the Vatican that its parishioners can use condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS is an historic step forward. We welcome the Roman Catholic Church to the 21st Century.
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Today we visited Colombiaton, a new settlement on the outskirts of Cartagena, built to relieve the overcrowding of the refugee camps. The school we visited was new and spotless with a large playground. We attended a workshop on violence for Profamilia peer educators. The new wrinkle today was that Profamilia had asked 1200 students in Cartagena whom they wanted to hear from on this topic and other reproductive health issues. Out came a long list of movie and music stars. Profamilia contacted them, and many agreed to be spokespeople and to appear at events in schools. Today Tony Cruz and Johnny Legendario, rap stars, were scheduled to appear at the school.
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Today we visited the Nelson Mandela Displaced Persons Settlement in Cartagena. Colombia has the dubious distinction of having, after the Sudan, the greatest number of displaced persons. These are refugees from the endemic violence that has wracked this country for years. In Cartagena, a city of a million, there are about 65-70,000 refugees, mostly in two main settlements. The Nelson Mandela settlement has dirt roads, steep hills, jerry-built huts, little electricity, no running water and no sewage system.
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Today we visited Pasa Nuevo, a small fishing village with unpaved roads on the Caribbean coast, to see the Profamilia mobile brigade in action. We traveled down a dirt road for several miles to access the village, which has maybe 1,000 inhabitants. The Profamilia social workers had visited houses in the surrounding area for the previous two weeks to let the inhabitants know that they would be in town. Women traveled to see us from a two hour radius. Profamilia visits Pasa Nuevo every six months, this being the limit of the birth control pills and injections. (they leave behind enough supplies for six months).
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Today we visited the Robinson Pitalua public high school school in Monteria, in the north of Colombia. Profamilia peer educators were conducting games/exercises to bring accessible sex, health and violence prevention information to their fellow students. These peer educators get over 100 hours of training. I was immediately assigned to a team of three 13 year olds. The first game was to throw a dart at a dart board and then answer a question on contraception depending what ring you hit. The next game was a version of Concentration where we had to match questions and answers on violence. Another game involved rolling dice and having to answer a question from the square where you landed. My question was whether an IUD could cause uterine cancer. I had to think for a second. My team was probably thinking, why we’d get this guy? But I said ‘no’ and won a lollypop which I gave to my team. If it had been a chocolate prize, the scene could have gotten ugly. In the final game, I had to spin a wheel and answer a question. Mine was on economic violence and because of Monday’s session at the school with the Profamilia Wamba rock band, I was able to answer to great cheers from my team and high fives all around.
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Today a visit to the hilltop suburb of Alto de Florida, an hour south of Bogota. The last mile in was on a steep, rutted dirt track. The community has electricity but no running water or sewage. Water is delivered in tank trucks. The school is a one hour walk for the children. The Church runs a communal soup kitchen. We climbed the last bit to reach the site of the Profamilia mobile health clinic, which did not operate out of a van, but instead, was set up inside two ramshackle huts on a precipitous ledge. The Profamilia team consisted of two doctors, two nurses, two social workers and a van to transport all the necessary equipment. The social workers had visited many times over the past weeks to educate the community on the upcoming visit. When we arrived at 9am, about ten women and children were already lined up and waiting. An hour later there were about 80 mothers and children, and a few men, waiting. The Profamilia staff quickly set up a consultation room and exam suit in one hut and another consultation area and dispensary in the other. The lead doctor took everyone’s name.
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Colombia has poverty unlike anything we see in the US. On average Colombia is a middle income country, but the disparities in wealth mean that it’s poor are among the most disadvantaged in the world. Transportation is spotty and communication erratic. Machismo is alive and well, and teen pregnancy is increasing. So, how to reach the kids? You don’t wait for them to come to you; you go to them.
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Below are links to various articles where I am quoted on the 50th anniversary of the Pill.
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