ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Experts Journey to Europe to Study Teen Sexual Health Outcomes

Risk of Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection Higher in U.S. than Europe

Interview Opportunities Available with Tour Participants While in Europe

WASHINGTON, DC (June 8, 2001) Citing the fact that teen birth, abortion, and sexually transmitted infection rates in the United States are the highest among industrialized nations, Advocates for Youth and sexual health experts from the U.S. and Africa begin a 15-day study tour of the Netherlands, France, and Germany.

Advocates for Youth's Director of Education and Outreach, Barbara Huberman, calls on the U.S. to learn a lesson from Europe. "Clearly, Europe is doing something right. Despite the recent decline in U.S. teen pregnancy rates, the U.S. has nearly seven times the teen pregnancy rate of the Netherlands, seventy-four times the adolescent gonorrhea rate of France, eight times the teen abortion rate of Germany, and U.S. teens begin having sex earlier than European teens," said Huberman.

Huberman finds the rates in these European countries to be drastically lower than in the U.S. because of a practical and healthy attitude about sexuality. "Unlike in the U.S., sexuality information is widely available to young people in those countries. What we have to realize in the U.S. is that denying young people important health information is not only naïve and short-sighted, but irresponsible and dangerous," she said.

The fourth annual European Study Tour, sponsored by Advocates for Youth and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is composed of 22 prominent health professionals, policy makers and educators from throughout the U.S. and Africa. Tour participants include a 16-person team from Oregon, three young people from California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, as well as an international team from Uganda, Africa. These participants, as well as experts from Washington DC, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico are working with health experts in Europe to identify strategies, programs and policies in the Netherlands, France and Germany that influence adolescent sexual behavior and outcomes.

An innovative, new feature to the European Study Tour (EST) this year is the introduction of Virtual EST. Available on Advocates for Youth's Web site, www.advocatesforyouth.org, the Virtual EST will allow others to follow participants during the tour. Each day, the Virtual EST will include participants' reactions to tour events, photographs, Europeans' reactions, research and data from the tour, and much more.

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Note to Editors and Producers: For more information or to set up an interview with adolescent sexuality experts, please contact Bill Barker at (202) 419-3420.

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