Please Don't Let Epidemic Become "Old News"

As many of you know, back in March a shocking study from the Center for Disease Control came out, showing that nearly 1 in 4 teen-aged women in our country, and 50% of African American teen women, have a sexually transmitted disease. Most of the cases found were of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, as well as Chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and Herpes.

To me, this seems outrageous...like everyone should be up in arms trying to do something to turn the tide on the epidemic facing our young women.

When most people think of epidemic, I think they probably think of Polio. So, I did a little comparative research. What I found was that back in the early 1900s Polio was not only striking fear in the hearts of Americans as the disease seemed to pop up unexplainedly and spread quickly, but it was also killing a lot of people. In 1907 there were 2,500 cases of Polio in New York City and in 1916 6,000 people in Brooklyn alone died of the disease.

Then I looked up the number of women who die of Cervical Cancer in our country today. Already in 2008 3,800 women have died and 11,000 others have been diagnosed. HPV causes 70% of all cervical cancer and our young women are getting HPV at alarming rates. I fear that becuase there is a delay in the serious threat that HPV poses, many people aren't adequately alarmed at the rates at which our teens are contracting this disease.

Across the country HPV education and awareness bills have popped up and have passed to varying degrees. But becuase HPV is sexually transmitted and we tend to have a hang up around teens and sex (the main misconception being that if we teach sex ed, teens will be more promiscuous, as if packing an umbrella causes rain, or as if many aren't having sex already (remember the 1 in 4 STI rate?)), many of the bills get watered down and have no teeth, meaning the young women who need the information about staying safe most, probably aren't getting it.

Just like a lot of adults aren't getting what a serious problem a 1 in 4 STD rate among teen women is.

Let's not judge and waste time talking about how back in our day young women weren't so ________ (insert you're own personal adjective here). Let's get to work educating young women about how to be healthy and safe, so that they can avoid sexually transmitted infections and turn back the epidemic of their generation.

Here are a few resources for teens, adults, and parents of teens about staying safe and talking to teens about avoiding STIs:

http://www.teenwire.com/
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex-101.htm
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/parents-4412.htm
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/parents/index.htm