“It is good that young people are taught to take care of themselves and to use contraception so that fewer 12-13-year-olds would become pregnant. It is also new to us parents that girls can, even at an early age, think about when they want to have their first child,” says a Shipibo man living in the village of Ceylán in Peru.

The Shipibo are an indigenous people who live in the Peruvian Amazon River basin with difficult access. The Finnish non-governmental organisation Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), supported by Finland, worked to promote the sexual and reproductive health of the Shipibo people between 2012 and 2016. The project provided people in the target villages with training on the sexual and reproductive health and with different contraceptive methods, such as condoms and contraceptive pills. A healthcare unit travelling from one village to another offered family planning and prenatal and child health clinic services. It also screened and treated sexually transmitted diseases. Local healthcare authorities and decision-makers also received training on the themes relating to gender and multiculturalism. The travelling healthcare unit established by PSR now works on a more permanent footing, setting an example for the rest of the country.

Photo: PSR, graphics: Juho Hiilivirta