Together with the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport VWS and Soa Aids Netherlands, the Public Health Department in Saba has been working on es­tablishing a sexual health web-site that applies to the Carib­bean context, keeping the con­text of Saba at the forefront. The Public Health Depart­ment aims to break down barriers that prevent residents of Saba from proactively en­gaging in their sexual health and well-being and normalis­ing the topic, while enabling young people to make desir­able, pleasant and safe choices about sexuality.

“In the interest of creating an open conversation on sexual health on Saba, we want to en­sure that the citizens of Saba have access to open, factual information relatable to the Saban community. Too often, we must refer people to sexual health websites that are Dutch or American and not reflective of the situation on a small Ca­ribbean island. To bridge this disconnect we need to make an effort to make sexual edu­cation as accessible and rel­evant as possible for our local youth,” members of the Public Health Team said.

The website will be geared to­ward young people from the ages of 12 to 24 years old, but will be accessible to all persons who arc looking to broaden their knowledge on sexual health. The website will have the name Sa­balovin.com, and will tentatively be launched on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2023.

Over the past few months, there has been very close collaboration with Soa Aids Netherlands in making the ambition of a sexual health website for Saba a reality. The Ministry of VWS has pro­vided financial and technical support for this project and is committed to supporting Saba in providing open, ac­cessible information on sexu­al health.

Public health nurse Tedisha Gordon is leading the initia­tive, supported by health pro­moter Allan Carolina and de­partment head Jane O’Flynn. Communication officer Saskia Matthew and external stake­holders such as Body, Mind & Spirit and Saba Comprehen­sive School are also collabo­rating.

The Daily Herald.