Official statistics on public health issues show the state of Jalisco ranking second in the nation on the index of teenage pregnancies.
Figures for 2016 indicate that nearly one-third of the state’s 74,234 pregnancies corresponded to young women under the age of 20. Breaking down the numbers, 21,349 of the expectant moms – equivalent to 28.7 percent of the total – fell between ages 15 to 19, while another 1,174 (1.5 percent) were even younger.
These startling stats, coupled with widespread ignorance about birth control, have prompted leadership at the non-profit Centro de Desarrollo de Jocotepec (Cedejo) to scale back the breadth of their activities and place a sharper focus on education programs for local youth.
To that end, as of April 1 Cedejo founding director Silvia Flores has bowed out of her two-year mission as coordinator of the itinerant mobile clinic operated under the auspices of the affiliate organization Health Outreach for Women (HOW). The health care unit on wheels circulates among lakeshore area villages four days a week to offer basic health services such as blood pressure and pulmonary oxygen saturation checks, examinations to detect breast and cervical cancer or diabetes, and guidance on birth control.
Flores will continue providing the same low-cost services to patients visiting Cedejo headquarters at Ocampo 45-A in central Ajijic, open weekdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Associate Evelia Lara has also come on board to handle by-appointment consultations on nutrition, homeopathic treatments and naturist remedies.
Flores, however, is now ready to forge ahead in tackling the enormous challenge of educating young men and women on matters that remain taboo in much of Mexican society: birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, marital relations and domestic violence.
“Unfortunately, many adolescents don’t get adequate and accurate orientation from their parents, teachers and peers,” Flores says. “I see girls in our villages as young as 14 facing expulsion from school and rejection by their families as they deal with accidental motherhood.”
An irrepressible activist in her field of expertise, Flores has vast experience in reaching out to young people as an advocate for contraception, family planning, responsible sexual conduct, healthy families and gender equality. She has conducted conferences and workshops on those themes at local schools, churches and other venues, speaking in frank, contemporary language that young people can relate to.
Now she is forging ahead on that front in partnership with Maria Dolores (Lolis) López Jara, a Cedejo alumna who currently serves as director of the Jocotepec government’s Instituto de la Mujer. Together, backed by an emerging support team, they are running a series of workshops in the classrooms of secondary and high-school level institutions along the north shore corridor.
Though modest by nature, Flores has gained esteem for her energetic personality and steadfast dedication to aiding the underprivileged. A native of Durango, where she earned her title as a registered nurse at the Universidad Juárez, she settled in the south shore village of San Pedro Tesistán in 1974. Based there, she embarked on an initiative to provide basic first-aid to the local people, later extending services to San Cristobal Zapotitlán and El Molino.
She opened Jocotepec’s Development Center in 1982 to delve into female health issues, including birth control, prenatal care and childbirth assistance as a midwife. She closed the anchor clinic in 2002 to concentrate on work at the Ajijic branch that started up in 1991.
It’s no surprise that Flores has been singled out for numerous public honors in recognition of her humanitarian spirit. She earned Lakeside Awards trophies for Project of the Year in 1989, Woman of the Year in 1995 and Pioneer of the Year in 2005. She has received honors from the Chapala and Jocotepec governments for her community service, and a hero award from the Giraffe Project that salutes individuals who stick out their necks for good causes. During its 50th anniversary celebration in 1996, the United Nations put Flores in the limelight with a certificate of appreciation for her “Contribution to Common Unity.”
Cedejo’s long record of accomplishment has been rewarded with financial support from philanthropic organizations such as the Mexican National Chili Cook-off, the Chapala Sunrise Rotary Club, and Luz de Malla, along with numerous individual donors.
Learn more about Cedejo programs and activities at cedejo.org and its Facebook page.