FEBRUARY 2007 — From October 1998 to September 2005 the Implementing AIDS Prevention and Care (IMPACT) Project, managed by Family Health International, helped Jamaican partner organizations improve the reproductive health of youth. Activities included an evaluation of adolescent health interventions, a behavioral surveillance survey (BSS) for vulnerable groups and an assessment of public health sector sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics.

IMPACT/Jamaica helped design the evaluation process for a youth health intervention program sponsored by USAID called FOCUS on Young Adults (FOCUS). Implemented by the Addiction Alert Organization, FOCUS targeted adolescents in Kingston. Later, IMPACT/Jamaica selected a local market research group, Market Research Services Limited, to conduct a BSS that included data on in- and out-of-school youth, sex workers and informal commercial importers. Public health and HIV/AIDS programs in Jamaica received copies of the final reports for these two activities.

Partnering with the Epidemiology Research Training Unit (ERTU) of the Ministry of Health (MOH), IMPACT/Jamaica also helped conduct an assessment of the quality of STI case management. ERTU and IMPACT/Jamaica compared these findings with results of two earlier baseline assessments of STI facilities and quality of STI case management that had been conducted in the Jamaican public sector in 1991 and 1996, also with FHI's help. The comparison measured the impact of case management improvements made by the MOH over time and helped USAID and the MOH better plan future STI program interventions.

IMPACT/Jamaica allocated remaining funds to support the Ashe Caribbean Performing Arts Ensemble and Academy, a nonprofit organization comprising performers, peer educators and teachers of the arts who specialize in using the performing arts to inform youth about social issues.