UNFPA- UNited Nations

UNFPA - Delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

The UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean (SROC) serves 22 countries and overseas territories in the English and Dutch-Speaking Caribbean.UNFPA promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. It does so by promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and equity and by promoting and supporting the use of population data in the formulation of national policies and programmes. 

The Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean  served by the UNFPA SROC include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sint Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

The Caribbean is a global leader in the tourism industry and many of the countries are also rich in natural resources such as timber, water, oil  and natural gas. At the same time, the Caribbean is characterized by a fragile ecosystem that is affected by natural and man-made disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes and the looming threat of extinction due to rising sea levels as a result of climate change. The region also grapples with the  challenges of high external migration, limited economic diversification, an ageing population, high youth unemployment, high levels of crime and violence, including gender-based violence; the levels of HIV/AIDS and adolescent pregnancy rates are second only to sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 7.5 million people live here, with the largest concentrations in Jamaica (2.9 million), Trinidad and Tobago (1.4 million), Guyana (0.8 million) and Suriname (0.6 million). 

UNFPA Caribbean At a Glance

As the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA seeks to end unmet need for family planning, end preventable maternal death, and end gender-based violence (GBV) and other harmful practices by 2030. UNFPA has provided support to the Caribbean since 1969 and remains the largest international source of population assistance to governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society. Two (2) frameworks guide its efforts: The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which the international development community committed itself  in the year 2015.