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New Study Shows One in Four Teenagers in the United States Have STDs
The following is from the Feminist Daily News Wire:
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a study Tuesday that found one in four US teenagers have a sexually transmitted disease (STD). The study estimates that 3.2 million girls between the ages of 14 and 19 are infected with one or more of the most common STDs, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, or herpes.
The study also found that African American girls are disproportionately infected. Forty-eight percent of the African American girls in the study were infected with an STD, compared with the twenty percent of white girls who were infected.
At Tuesday's National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago, Kevin Fenton, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said, "Today's data demonstrate the significant health risk STDs pose to millions of young women in this country every year. Given that the health effects of STDs for women – from infertility to cervical cancer – are particularly severe, STD screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among our highest public health priorities."
The study indicates the need for reform in current sex education policies and health care of young women. The current administration consistently provides funding for abstinence-only programs despite the overwhelming evidence of their inefficacy. Seventeen states have refused federal funding for abstinence-only programs.
