A friendly decade

The Friendly Unit of UCundinamarca continues to strengthen its comprehensive service provision to the university and school community of the city of Girardot.

Since 2008, the Friendly Unit has focused its services on family planning, sexual health counseling, and cytology testing., support for the young pregnant woman, Prevention and mitigation of the consumption of psychoactive substances, preconception counseling, breast and testicular assessment, care and support for the abused person, and mental health with emphasis on prevention, and timely care for the abused person, advice on voluntary termination of pregnancy, according to current regulations established by the Constitutional Court.

“The purpose of the University is to provide differentiated care to adolescents, young people and families in the municipality of Girardot in promoting sexual and mental health, identification, risk prevention, guidance and coordination in care, in order to mitigate the health condition,”, Carlota Castro Quintana, the project leader, pointed out.

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For a decade, around 200 students from the 9th and 10th semester Nursing program have passed through the Friendly Unit; some are part of the Management Core, who strengthen their professional skills in accreditation processes for friendly centers, while other students choose the voluntary option to delve deeper into sexual and reproductive health programs.

The Student-Friendly Unit primarily serves first-semester university students, as well as students in general. However, it has expanded its services to educational institutions in the city of Girardot and surrounding municipalities in the Upper Magdalena Province.

For a decade, the Amiga Unit has impacted young people and adolescents from the municipalities of Nilo, Agua de Dios, Nariño, Guataquí, and the city of Girardot, who have benefited from sexual education programs, fairs on this topic, and personalized advice, led by students from the Nursing program.

The Friendly Unit has two branches, one at the Ramón Bueno and José Triana Educational Institution, and the second at the Atanasio Girardot Technical Institution. It also conducts sexual health outreach programs at other public and private educational institutions in the municipality. The services it provides at these institutions are those mentioned above.

It is worth noting that in one semester the Friendly Unit attends to an average of 300 adolescents in nursing consultations and an average of 1,000 adolescents in brigades and days.

“The Amiga Unit has allowed me to provide students with their own learning environment, generate a care model consistent with the National care model, and in which this learning environment generates a social service that gives identity to the University and the Nursing program,”, Castro Quintana, the project leader, emphasized this point.

The Friendly Unit has been working on two components for the past ten years: one is the articulation with academic and research development, and the second is directed towards community social service development programs, with attention to adolescents in sexual health, prevention and promotion.

Among the impactful projects in the region led by the multidisciplinary group that makes up the Friendly Unit (doctor, psychologist, social worker, engineer among others) three projects developed during this anniversary decade stand out.

In 2008, the Unidad Amiga (Friendly Unit) began Primary Care Center (CAP) projects; studies that formed the basis for the municipal guidelines in the design of the Municipal Sexual Education program in the city of Girardot. The initiative sought to provide feedback and propose intersectoral work strategies, and the following project was proposed: “Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding sexual health among 4th and 5th grade elementary school students and 6th through 11th grade high school students from five public educational institutions in Girardot, 2017-2018.”.

Another project addressed public health risk monitoring in brothels, evaluating compliance with service requirements, both in terms of the location and the sexual services provided by women engaged in sex work. This project is coordinated with the Health Secretariat, the Government Secretariat, the National Police, and the Family Commissioner's Office.

A third project led by the Amiga Unit was the investigation of barriers to access to contraceptive methods in the adolescent population of the municipality, through a survey, a checklist to IPS to evaluate compliance with the care guide; evaluation of the user's perception during the contraception consultation and a survey of the professional to assess good practices in the programs.

“We face the challenge of improving coverage; we want to provide continuous care throughout the 12 months of the year, have more professionals to provide continuous care, and have the option of selling services,”, Carlota Castro Quintana added.

Martha Liliana García/GLA

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