Awareness

       
"Nature must have had a plan for you to give me all you can." 

      So ends a frequently run commercial here in Guyana about exclusive breast-feeding for infants up to 6 months of age. So regular is the commercial, that the lines from it come easily to memory as I write this. I am using a line from this, oh-so-catchy, commercial slogan, not just because it gets stuck in my head on a regular basis, but also to highlight a point. This commercial which is narrated with the distinctive voice of  a small child's, and begins by saying: 

"When I was smaller than a pea, you gave me food to keep me safe and nourish me...," 

is on throughout the day and evening. It is on even during what one might call "prime time" if I might borrow that term from the States. Most notably, in this commercial, a public service announcement, if you will, women are shown, very uninhibitedly, breast-feeding their babes. It is a great commercial and one that we should envy in the States. I do not think I have ever seen a close up of a breast-feeding woman and baby in a commercial in the United States. The Guyanese commercial shows this intimate, completely natural exchange so plainly, that it almost shocked me at first. How comfortable the commercial was with showing the woman's breast. Shocked me!? I am a women's health specialty nurse and huge supporter of breast-feeding!? This just reveals to me, how I have been subtly influenced by, what?, my culture in the States?, the media?, I am not even sure. 

      What I do know, is that I have been pleasantly impressed with the overall awareness of many health related topics here in Guyana. One of these being breast-feeding, and another of these being, HIV/AIDS related issues. The country and its health care leaders, have done an excellent job, I feel, of discussing HIV with the people. After several weeks of interviewing women for my surveys and data collection, it dawned on me, that the women are impressively comfortable and unfaltering when I ask them the questions related to sex and prevention of HIV. Almost all the women have been very educated on the topic of HIV transmission and prevention. There is very rarely ever a time when I need to go too much into background education to preface my survey questions. The women are considerably aware enough, to meet me right where I am, in the discussion. The women are never offended and not only respond thoughtfully, but often also offer great insight. I cannot help but ponder how reviewing the same questions might be different in a clinic in the United States. The awareness here impresses me.