|
Rights. Respect. Responsibility.® The Fix the GAP Campaign—Stop U.S. Exportation of Abstinence-Only Programs
Straight Talk—HIV and Young People
Every Minute, Five Young People Contract HIV—That's 7,200 Every Day!
Don't we deserve full and complete information to protect ourselves?
The Facts
UNAIDS has reported that over 36 million people worldwide are living with HIV or AIDS, and a full third of these are young people between the ages of 15 and 24.[1,2]
UNFPA reports that half of all new HIV infections are in people under age 25.[1]
According to UNAIDS, young women ages 15 to 19 in some sub-Saharan African nations are up to six times more likely to be HIV infected than young men the same age.[4]
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), a number of carefully conducted studies, employing rigorous methods, have demonstrated that correct and consistent use of condoms is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission.[5]
Experts estimate that, at the very minimum, people in the developing world and Eastern Europe needed eight billion condoms in 2000 to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. Yet, donor countries provided about one eighth (950 million) as many as were needed.[6]
Worldwide, Young People Are Sexually Active
The World Health Organization reported that, in sub-Saharan Africa, 45 to 52 percent of women are sexually active by age 19.[7]
According to UNFPA, more than one-quarter of men aged 15 to 19 in Brazil, Ethiopia, Gabon, Haiti, Kenya, Latvia, Malawi, Nicaragua, and Poland reported having first sex before age 15.[3]
According to a study recently published in a peer-reviewed journal, most young women in developed countries have had sex prior to age 20: 67 percent in France, 79 percent in Great Britain, and 71 percent in the United States.[8]
According to the CDC, in the United States in 2005, 53 percent of high school students had had sex; and, in 1997, 80 percent of college students ages 18 to 24 reported having had sex.[9,10]
Comprehensive Sex Education Works
Substantial evidence exists proving the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education programs—that include information about abstinence as the most effective way to prevent STIs and unintended pregnancy while also providing medically accurate facts and clear messages about contraception, including condoms.[11,12]
Effective, age-appropriate, comprehensive programs also offer activities addressing peer pressure and individual values while allowing youth to practice such skills as communication, refusal, and negotiation.[11,12]
Numerous studies around the world show that comprehensive sexual health education programs help youth delay the onset of sexual intercourse and also help sexually active young people protect themselves from pregnancy, HIV, and other STIs.[11,13,14]
Evaluation has identified many effective, comprehensive, school- and community-based programs for young people in less developed nations. For example, comprehensive programs in Nigerian schools showed decreased incidence of STIs, increased abstinence, increased condom use, and reduced numbers of sex partners.[15,16] Evaluation has also identified effective community-based programs for young people in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cameroon, Guinea, and Uganda—programs that successfully delay initiation of sex and effectively foster risk reduction among sexually active youth.[14]
Health institutions recognized and respected around the world—such as the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the United States' Institute of Medicine—all recommend comprehensive sex education. Others that support such education include the American Medical Association, the U.S. Office of National AIDS Policy, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Society for Adolescent Medicine, and the U.S. Surgeon General.[4,17,18,19]
Abstinence-only-until-Marriage Doesn't Work
In reviews of programs around the world, neither the World Health Organization nor UNAIDS found a single abstinence-only program that was as effective as comprehensive programs in helping youth to delay first sexual intercourse and to protect themselves once they initiated sex.[4,19]
Studies of virginity pledge programs in the United States found that the programs helped youth delay the onset of sex so long as no more than 30 percent of school students took the pledge. So at best, these programs were useless to 70 percent of students. Even worse, once pledgers initiated sex, they were significantly less likely than non-pledging youth to use contraception or condoms and were therefore at 35 percent higher risk of pregnancy and significantly higher risk of HIV.[20] Further study found later that pledge takers were as likely to suffer an STI because they were far less likely to use condoms; they were also less likely than non-pledgers to seek STI testing and treatment.[21]
Despite these dismal findings, the United States government has poured nearly one billion in federal and state matching funds into abstinence-only-until-marriage programs across the country. Evaluations have been quietly published on state Web sites and often taken down or buried within the Web site.[22]
Not a single U.S. abstinence-only-until-marriage program has shown positive impact to date.[22] For example, a study by the state of Minnesota found that students in that state who had abstinence-only-until-marriage education were more likely to be sexually active and less likely to use contraception than students a few years earlier (prior to the state's implementation of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs).[23] Now, the Administration plans to export this failed policy.
Conclusion
In a world where adolescents are at high risk for contracting HIV and other STIs, there is a need to arm all youth with as much information as possible. Evaluations show that education which includes information both about abstinence AND contraception is the most effective in delaying onset of first sexual intercourse and in ensuring that young people protect themselves when they do become sexually active. Neither information nor access to contraception or condoms increases sexual activity among youth.
So what are we waiting for?
Written by Sonya Mendoza, International Youth Leadership Council, Advocates for Youth, ©2004
References:
- Joint United Nations Programme on HIV AIDS (UNAIDS). 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS, 2006.
- Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Global Impact of HIV/AIDS on Youth. Menlo Park, CA: Author, 2002.
- United Nations Population Fund. State of the World's Population. New York, NY: UNFPA, 2003.
- UNAIDS. Young People and HIV/AIDS: Opportunity in Crisis. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS, 2002.
- Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Condoms and Their Use in Preventing HIV Infection and Other STDs. Atlanta, GA: CDC, 1999.
- Chay N, Cali-Ahset A. Condoms Count: Meeting the Need in the Era of HIV/AIDS. Washington, DC: Population Action International, 2002.
- Brown AD et al. Sexual Relations among Young People in Developing Countries: Evidence from WHO Case Studies. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2001.
- Darroch JE et al. Differences in teenage pregnancy rates among five developed countries: the role of sexual activity and contraceptive use. Family Planning Perspectives 2001; 33:244-250+.
- Eaton DK et al. Youth risk behavior surveillance, United States, 2005. Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 2006;55 (SS-5):1–108.
- CDC. Youth risk behavior surveillance, national college health risk behavior survey, United States, 1995. MMWR CDC Surveillance Summaries 1997; 46 (SS-6):1.56.
- Kirby D. Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001.
- Collins C et al. Abstinence Only vs. Comprehensive Sex Education: What Are the Arguments? What Is the Evidence? San Francisco: AIDS Policy Research Center & Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, 2002.
- Alford S et al. Science & Success: Sex Education & Other Programs that Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2003.
- Alford S et al. Science & Success: Effective Programs that Work in Developing Nations. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, [in press, 2004].
- Fawole IO et al. A school-based AIDS education programme for secondary school students in Nigeria: a review of effectiveness. Health Education Research: Theory & Practice 1999; 14(5):675-683.
- Okonofua FE et al. Impact of an intervention to improve treatment-seeking behavior and prevent sexually transmitted diseases among Nigerian youth. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 2003; 7:61-73.
- Howell M, Feijoo AN. Science or Politics? George W. Bush and the Future of Sexuality Education in the United States. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2001.
- Institute of Medicine, Committee on HIV Prevention Strategies in the United States. No Time to Lose: Getting More from HIV Prevention. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
- Baldo M et al. Does Sex Education Lead to Earlier or Increased Sexual Activity in Youth? Presented at the IXth International Conference on AIDS, Berlin, 6-10 June 1993. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1993.
- Bearman PS, Brückner H. Promising the future: virginity pledges and first intercourse. American Journal of Sociology 2001; 106:859-912.
- Bearman PS, Brückner H. The Relationship between Virginity Pledges in Adolescence and STD Acquisition in Young Adulthood. Presentation at the National STD Prevention Conference, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2004.
- Hauser D. Review of Evaluations of Abstinence-only-until-Marriage Programs in 15 States. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth [forthcoming, 2004].
- Minnesota Department of Health, Division of Family Health. Minnesota Education Now and Babies Later (MN ENABL): Evaluation Report 1998-2002. St. Paul MN: Author, 2004.
Last Updated November 2007
 Send this page to a friend >>
|
