In this February
2000 edition:
Looking for the
Latest Data on Teen Pregnancy?
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy has a website that provides
national and state data on rates of teen pregnancy, birth, sexual activity,
and contraception use: http://www.teenpregnancy.org.
This
new web site offers free fact sheets for every state, four territories,
and D.C., including:
- Comprehensive
teen pregnancy and birth statistics,
- Race/ethnicity
and age breakdowns,
- State
rankings and comparisons to national statistics,
- Rates
of teen sexual activity and contraceptive use, and
- State
maps that show county-by-county differences in teen pregnancy and births.
Founded
in 1996, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization whose goal is to reduce the teen pregnancy rate
by one-third between 1996 and 2005. "One of the most important goals of
the National Campaign is to make sure that everyone has the best data
and research available," said Sarah Brown, Director of the National Campaign.
"We hope that people doing the tough work in communities to help teens
grow up pregnancy-free will find these new resources helpful."
More from the National
Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy ...
Get Organized:
Guide to Preventing Teen Pregnancy is a 3-volume manual designed specifically
for people who want to take action to prevent teen pregnancy in their
communities. It was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services and the Johnson and Johnson Family of Companies.
Volume I
of the manual provides an overview of programs that can help prevent teen
pregnancy and offers advice to readers on how to design age-appropriate
programs, create new interventions for girls, involve boys and men in
prevention efforts, and involve young people in developing and implementing
programs.
Volume II
focuses on the roles of schools and health care professionals in prevention
efforts and suggests ways to involve non-traditional partners such as
the business community.
Volume III
addresses the logistics of developing a state or local coalition including:
assessing the needs of the community, planning, fundraising, working with
media, evaluating initiatives, and dealing with conflict.
The manual
is available from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2100
M Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington D.C. 20037, Phone: 202/261-5655;
Fax: 202/331-7735; Web site: www.teenpregnancy.org.
Educate Your School
Board!
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is ready
to help you educate your school board about teen pregnancy, prevention
strategies, and specifically how youth development and after-school programs
can help prevent teen pregnancy. Two important new resources that provide
good talking points as well as useful handouts are:
- A
fact sheet: Why the Education Community Cares About Preventing Teen
Pregnancy: Notes from the Field, and
- Start
Early, Stay Late: Linking Youth Development and Teen Pregnancy Prevention,
a publication with specific ideas, including afterschool programs, to
help prevent teen pregnancy.
E-mail
the National Campaign at campaign@teenpregnancy.org
or call them at 202/261-5655 for copies.
New Web Site for
Teens Seeking Sexual Health Information
The American Social Health Association (ASHA) has a new teen web site,
www.iwannaknow.org, which has,
in its first six months, already become an important resource for youth
who want to know and chat about sexual health. This is the only real time
chat room that provides monitored STD counseling by a trained adult. Since
the launch of this site in June, they have received over 400,000 visits.
ASHA, whose
mission is to educate and prevent the spread of STDs, provides information
and counseling about sexually transmitted diseases to anyone in need.
Another of ASHA's important activities was their September 1999 launch
of the National HPV and Cervical Cancer Prevention Resource Center. This
resource center offers new ways to provide outreach and accurate information
about HPV and cervical cancer to healthcare consumers and providers.
An Advocacy Kit
Now Available
A Comprehensive Approach to Reduce Pregnancy and
the Spread of HIV is a 167-page kit which provides health professionals
with a ready-made presentation to advocate for establishing or expanding
a prevention program in schools. The Advocacy Kit, contained in a user-friendly
3-ring binder, includes:
Chapter
1: a brief overview of factors that influence early sexual behaviors
and consequences of early intercourse
Chapter
2: a set of overhead transparency masters with a script that can
be used to inform and motivate various groups to take an active role
in developing a program, (with optional transparencies included to help
tailor the presentation to parents, board members, nurses, teachers
and community members)
Chapter
3: an outline of the steps needed to organize a health coordinating
council or prevention coalition to keep momentum moving forward in the
school district and community, and
An
Appendix: resources, sample action plans, and examples of effective
curricula.
Copies
of ASHA's Advocacy Kit are available from the American School Health Association
for $20 for ASHA members ($25 for non-members). Call ASHA Publications
at 330/678-1601 for information on ordering.
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