ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

January 2008 update on new publications, actions you can take, and more!

Advocates for Youth's e-News Update

This Month

January is Cervical Cancer Screening Month!

By Stephanie, Campus Organizer

In the past few years, the human papillomavirus (HPV) has been a big topic of discussion among health care professionals, peer health educators, and the general public. HPV is the name of a group of viruses that include over 100 different types or strains, many of which are sexually transmitted, including genital warts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 20,000,000 people are infected with this STI and a whopping 6.2 million Americans get a new HPV infection each year. Most HPV infections cause no major problems and will clear themselves with no treatment. However, some strains of HPV can progress to cervical cancer if left untreated. In fact, almost all cervical cancer cases are caused by untreated HPV. What makes this disease so scary is that the number of those infected has risen and continues to do so.

Those are a lot of facts dealing with one virus, but it just goes to show how common HPV has become in our society and how important it is to be tested by your doctor. Remember, over 99 percent of cervical cancer is caused by HPV! January is Cervical Cancer Screening Month and presents a perfect excuse to get that Pap smear (the screening test for HPV) you've been avoiding. It's also a great time to ask your health care provider about the new HPV vaccine. But remember, the vaccine doesn't protect from all of the cancer-causing strains of HPV, so it is still very important to have your annual Pap smear. Cervical cancer treatments are far more successful when the cancer is detected early!

Personal experience has taught me that you can live a healthy lifestyle by eating right, exercising, and practicing safer sex methods like using a condom, but you never know what can happen. Hearing the words "irregular pap" and "mild to severe dysphasia" and "pre-cancerous" from my gynecologist was a nerve-wracking experience and one I intend never to relive.

Take the month of January - - you still have a few weeks - - and schedule that appointment with your gynecologist for a Pap smear. And while you're at it, tell your mom, grandmother, sister and friends to get tested. You may never know whose life you saved.

YAN Updates

Last month, we asked you to send us your New Year Activist Commitments. Here are a few.

"I commit to organize and spread the word about Advocates for Youth on my school campus and hostel."
- Bernard, Ghana

"I commit to raising awareness on the marginalization of African-American women and the tools to mobilize activism to address these issues at Spelman College."
- Diana, Raleigh, North Carolina

"I commit to uniting students on my campus at American University to become more active on HIV/AIDS advocacy issues."
- Melodi, Washington, D.C.

What's your commitment for 2008?!

For Youth, By Youth

In October, 2007, Elizabeth, participated in Advocates for Youth's Urban Retreat, a four-day training that helps young people in issue education, skills-building, and planning. Following is a report on how she is using these skills as an intern with NARAL Pro-Choice Washington.

Making Change in Washington State

My name Is Elizabeth, and I'm 18 years old and from Seattle, Washington, where I intern for NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. NARAL is currently working on getting Emergency Contraception (Plan B) access available everywhere in WA State. We are making sure pharmacies know about Plan B, and are finding out if they stock it. At the end of January we will be lobbying in the State capital, Olympia, to advocate for Emergency Contraception rights in the state. One of the big issues with Emergency Contraception is that people think it is an abortion pill, but Plan B is just a higher dose of birth control and so it should be available over the counter at all pharmacies just like birth control.

To read more, click here.

What In The World?

A Hot Topic: The Reauthorization of PEPFAR

In 2003, the United States Congress passed the U.S. Leadership against Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act which authorized $15 billion over five years to fight global AIDS. This Act, known as PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), was the first major funding initiative by the United States to address the growing AIDS pandemic that was devastating the developing world. While many applauded this unprecedented funding for HIV treatment and care, PEPFAR was soundly criticized for its ideological mandate that 33 percent of all prevention dollars be directed to abstinence-until-marriage programs.

To read more...

Say What?!

Bush comes out for honest and complete sexual health information?!
Oh, you mean JENNA Bush

In a recent interview with MTV's John Norris, President Bush's daughter Jenna discussed her new book Ana's Story, about a young woman in Latin America who is living with HIV.

Norris: Is abstinence only a workable policy or is it just a pie in the sky approach?

Bush: Obviously, the very, very safest thing you can do is not have sex. But I think it's also a private decision for everybody. I think the most important thing is education. Period. It is important for them [young people] to have access to the information, and get the education they need to keep themselves safe. There is no doubt about it that being safe helps prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Norris: Whatever safe means - abstinence, be faithful, using condoms?

Bush: Exactly. Anything. But people need to have the information so they can make that personal decision for themselves.

Clearly, Jenna has a lot to teach her father.

Jenna traveled throughout Latin America, working with UNICEF and witnessing first-hand the devastating effects of the global HIV and AIDS epidemic.

• Jenna's book acknowledges the reality of young women's lives and the many reasons they might not be abstinent or why marriage might not guarantee their safety from HIV.
• The resources section in Ana's Story includes among its "Myths about HIV," that "Condoms don't prevent HIV." It goes on to include the real facts about condom effectiveness.
• Jenna worked with UNICEF, whose programs provide youth with all the facts they need to protect their sexual and reproductive health. But in developing countries that depend on U.S. aid to fight the AIDS pandemic, abstinence-until-marriage mandates are hindering effective prevention strategies. Young people don't receive complete information about contraception and condoms that help them "make that personal decision for themselves."

Jenna Bush has written an honest, compassionate, moving book about a young person who is living with HIV. Let's hope her Dad gets a chance to read it and learns something!

My Voice Counts!

In America, where 95 percent of the 750,000 teenage pregnancies each year are unintended and access to quality reproductive services for young women is often limited, activists like you must take action to ensure that all women have access to emergency contraception.

Advocates for Youth and Choice USA urge you to Take Action! It has been over one year since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that over-the-counter sales of EC would be restricted to women ages 18 and older. We believe this is wrong.

Enough is enough! Sign the petition urging the FDA to remove this unnecessary age restriction. Make your voice heard!

Read All About It

Check out our newly updated section on Contraceptives!

On The Town

Sex:Tech Conference

From January 22-23, staff and youth activists from Advocates for Youth will be in San Francisco, CA for the first-ever Sex:Tech Conference hosted by Internet Sexuality Information Services!

AFY workshops include: How to Make a Youth-Friendly Website;
How E-Organizing Is Effective for Campus Activism; and our two peer-education projects: www.youthresource.com and www.mysistahs.org.

For more information on the Sex:Tech Conference, check out their website at http://www.sxtechconference.org.

Creating Change Conference

Advocates for Youth staff and youth activists will be in Detroit, Michigan, February 6-10 for the annual National LGBT Equality Conference: Creating Change hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce!

Each year, Creating Change provides a space where over 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates from every corner of the country converge to strategize, socialize and mobilize for LGBT equality.

Workshops by Advocates for Youth include: How Comprehensive Sex Education is an LGBT Issue; Coming Out as Muslim; and Advocates for Youth's Anti-homophobia Project: An Effective Strategy to Provide Capacity Building to Communities of Color.

For more information on Creating Change, check out their website at http://www.creatingchange.org/

Victory!

Youth Votes Skyrocket in Iowa!

Young voters are credited with the upset victories in the Iowa caucuses for Senator Barack Obama and Governor Mike Huckabee. According to CNN entrance polls, youth voters under the age of 30 represented the largest margins of any age group: 57 percent for Obama, and 40 percent for Huckabee. Even more amazing, the surveys show that from 2004, youth voter turnout TRIPLED, with 65,000 people ages 17 through 29 turning out for the caucuses!

According to surveys of voters entering the caucuses, young voters preferred Obama over the next-closest competitor by more than 4 to 1. After the fact, President Bill Clinton admitted Senator Hillary Clinton and her campaign made a mistake in underestimating the youth vote in Iowa. However, he said the same thing wouldn't happen again in New Hampshire. Regardless, this is a pivotal point in the elections for young people. We cannot be ignored and the polls truly speak to that!

DC State Board Adopts Comprehensive Sex Ed!

On December 13, 2007, the D.C. State Board of Education unanimously approved sex-education classes to teach students about sexual orientation and trends in contraception. The District of Columbia has one of the highest rates of HIV in the country and has taken a stand in support of comprehensive sex education standards to address these statistics. Starting in sixth grade, students will be taught that "people, regardless of biological sex, gender, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity and culture, have sexual feelings and the need for love, affection and physical intimacy." Eight graders will be taught topics including sexual orientation, and ninth graders will learn about abortion, among other topics. In addition, the guidelines to sex education also include teaching about abstinence. However, the board has yet to create a plan to make sure that all local education agencies are enforcing the guidelines. Overall, this is a great start to implementing comprehensive HIV & health education in ALL schools.

Meredith Schonfeld-Hicks, Advocates' State Strategies Manager, said after the meeting, "It was really powerful to see the room packed with people wearing bright red t-shirts with the statement, "Raise your Hand for Health and HIV Education." Combined with the supportive testimony from DC public school students, parents, pediatricians and community leaders, there was no doubt that DC residents firmly support the comprehensive health education standards as a way to improve the health and lives of young people in DC."

You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm

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