Posts Tagged ‘stds’

Prom Tools for Parents

April 26th, 2013

As spring blooms in AZ, the change in seasons also comes with milestones for our state’s teenagers. In the next few weeks many of them will be attending proms and graduations. While proms and graduations can have positive memories, the experiences can turn tragic when alcohol is part of the mix.  Alcohol impairs judgment…  potentially leading to heart-retching outcomes and regrets like sexual assault, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and deadly car crashes.  Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens… and 1/3 of traffic deaths of 15 to 20 year olds are alcohol-related. 

A national survey of more than 1,000 adolescents by the Guttmacher Institute found that 80% of first sexual experiences occurred under the influence of alcohol and about ½  of all nonconsensual sexual experiences involve alcohol use by the perpetrator, the victim or both.  Another recent report called Girls and Drugs found that 1/3 of girls and young women 14 to 21 years old with unplanned pregnancies were drinking when they had sex, and 91% said they hadn’t planned to have sex. 

Despite knowing all the reasons why teens shouldn’t drink, it can be challenging for them to stay clear-headed when all  their friends are drinking. No one likes to feel left out, and teenagers especially feel the need for acceptance by their peers. So what can we do as parents?  

You can help by finding effective ways to say no in a peer pressure situation.  Self-esteem is critically important because it gives kids confidence in themselves and decisions.  Talking to them leading up to the prom and graduation is also important.   Take a look at the website 15 Ways a Teen Can Say No to Alcohol to learn how you can play a role in helping your teen make responsible decisions.  You can also find great tips about talking to teens about alcohol use from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and at Girlshealth.gov.

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Show Your Love

February 14th, 2013

Valentine’s Day isn’t just a day of romance, flowers and candy.  The CDC Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative launched a campaign asking all women of childbearing age to Show Your Love by taking good care of themselves.  It’s a national initiative to educate women and couples on the importance of preconception health. Preconception health refers to a woman’s health during the years she can have a child.  A mother’s health before she gets pregnant can affect the health of her baby.  

Women who’d like to become pregnant are urged to “Show Your Love” to your future baby by adopting healthy behaviors now.   Women who are not planning a pregnancy now are encouraged to “Show Your Love” to themselves so they’ll be healthy and have a fulfilling future.  About half of all pregnancies in our country are unplanned, which increases the chances of having a poor birth outcome such as preterm birth, low birth weight, high birth weight, or stillbirth.  Many women become pregnant when they’re not in the best health or while engaging in behaviors that could harm a pregnant woman or her baby.  It makes sense to be healthy at all stages of life. 

The Show Your Love website includes posters, educational videos, TV PSAs and health checklists for use by health care providers and community partners who want to educate the women and couples they work with about the importance of preconception health.  Preconception health is impacted by a number of health issues addressed by various ADHS programs – chronic disease, oral health, nutrition, physical activity, smoking, STD’s, immunizations and mental health.  The Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health website includes additional preconception health tools. Also, please feel free to email the Bureau at: preconceptionhealth@azdhs.gov .

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Women’s Services Expansion Kick In

September 20th, 2012

Several prevention-related health services will be covered without cost sharing in new health plans as of a couple of weeks ago as a result of the Affordable Care Act.  The changes are designed to help lower costs and outcomes for a variety of preventative women’s services.  Previously, some insurance companies didn’t cover some of the new preventive services, while some women had to pay deductibles or co-pays.  The new rules in the health care law requiring coverage of these services take effect at the next renewal date. 

Some of the new services include: 1) Well-woman visits; 2) Gestational diabetes screening for pregnant women; 3) Domestic violence screening and counseling; 3) Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling; and 4) Sexually transmitted infections and HIV counseling for sexually-active women.  The list of required services are based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which relied on independent physicians, nurses, scientists, and other experts as well as evidence-based research to develop its recommendations. These preventive services will be offered without cost sharing beginning today in all new health plans.  Group health plans and issuers that have maintained grandfathered status and certain nonprofit religious organizations (like churches and schools) aren’t required to cover the new services.

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Posted in Affordable Care Act, Prevention

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New Teen Pregnancy Prevention Contracts in Place

October 19th, 2011

Last week we awarded 4 community-based contracts for the new Personal Responsibility Education Program funds to prevent teen pregnancy in AZ.  The funding we’ll be passing through to our new contractors is part of the Affordable Care Act- and requires programs educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception as ways to prevent pregnancy and STDs.  All projects we selected for funding emphasize abstinence as the surest way to avoid pregnancy and STDs. 

The new contractors are Pima Prevention Partnership, Pinal Hispanic Council, Worthy Institute and Arizona Youth Partnership.   Two of these grantees (Pima Prevention Partnership & Arizona Youth Partnership) are also current contractors with us for the Abstinence Education Program, and have many years of experiencing implementing abstinence programs.  Pinal Hispanic Council is a behavioral health provider, and the Worthy Institute is a community-based organized focused on prevention efforts, particularly within the African American community.    

All contracts became effective October 1 with school based services being implemented in January 2012 and community based services being initiated as early as November 2011.  We’ll likely need to do a next round of proposals for services in the targeted areas that were not addressed in the selected contracts- including Mesa West, Glendale Central, Alhambra, Encanto, Phoenix Central City, Tucson Southeast, Tucson North Central, Casa Grande, Coolidge, Florence and Nogales with our remaining $340K. 

These new projects augment the recently awarded federal Abstinence Education contracts which were awarded to  Pima Prevention Partnership, Arizona Youth Partnership, Catholic Charities, and National Community Health Partners on July 1…  serving thousands of youth and partners in 20 communities throughout the state.

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Posted in Affordable Care Act, General, Prevention

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Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Released

June 24th, 2010

The vast majority of deaths among kids and young adults in the US are preventable- and many involve the choices theymake.  Car crashes are responsible for 30% of deaths, unintentional injuries 16%, murder 16%, and suicide 12%.  Teen pregnancy causes a wide range of social problems, and there are more than 9 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among people aged 15–24 every year in the US.   The leading health and safety problem for this age group are basically related to: 1) behaviors that contribute to injuries and vio­lence; 2) alcohol and other drug use; 3) sexual behavior;  4) unhealthy eating; and 5) physical inactivity. These behaviors frequently are interrelated and are established during childhood and adolescence and extend into adulthood.

The CDC released their Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009 this month which examines the national trends.  They conduct the surveillance annually so that we have better data with which to craft and implement public health interventions to do something about these preventable health issues.

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Did smallpox vaccination halt spread of HIV?

May 21st, 2010

A study published this week in the journal BMC Immunology suggests that being vaccinated for smallpox triggered by the smallpox vaccine may inhibit the growth of the HIV.  The researchers extracted white blood cells from subjects and exposed them to HIV in a culture dish. The results showed that HIV replication was slowed by about 80 percent in the cells from those who had received smallpox vaccination.   The full article is posted at:         http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2172-11-23.pdf.  Before drawing conclusions, consider that this in an in-vitro study cell culture study and the sample size is only 20, but it may suggest that further research is warranted to find out whether there is some kind of cross protection that the smallpox vaccine provides.

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Abortion Reporting

May 12th, 2010

The Legislature passed (and the Governor signed) a new law this past session that expands the number of reportable fields for abortion procedures that occur in Arizona.  There are about 17 reportable fields and new reporting requirements for complications that occur as a result of the procedure.  All of the data is confidential and there are no personally identifiable patient fields that are reported. The law also requires the Department to write up an annual report summarizing the data that we collect.  The new law SB1304 will become effective at the beginning of July.

The law specifies that the data needs to be submitted electronically, which is an important provision because we have limited ability to do the data entry ourselves.  Out IT and Vital Statistics areas are busy getting the computer application up and running so that we’re ready to go on July 1.  We’ll also be coordinating the new reporting requirements with Licensure, as it will be in the process of setting up the inspection procedures over the summer, with the expectation that we will begin licensing and surveying the clinics starting November 1.

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Abstinence

February 10th, 2010


Perhaps nothing in public is more controversial than the question of what is the best way to delay sexual activity in youth.  Some say abstinence education is the best way.  Some say it’s a more broad approach and boosting self esteem.  Some say it’s keeping kids involved in sports and other activities.  Some people say it has to be one way or the other, while others say it shouldn’t be a one size fits all approach.

Anyway, there is an interesting new article in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine that is sure to stir the pot.  Researchers compared the effectiveness of: 1) an 8-hour abstinence-only intervention that targeted reduced sexual intercourse; 2) an 8-hour safer sex–only intervention targeted increased condom use; and 3) an 8-hour comprehensive intervention that targeted sexual intercourse and condom use; and 4) an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention that targeted health issues unrelated to sexual behavior.

Here at ADHS we recently started back up abstinence only education using some lottery funds that are designated for that purpose. It sounds like the successful intervention mentioned in this week’s study did a lot of the same things we do in Arizona in our abstinence program, which is increasing skills to be abstinent and resist pressure to have sex as well as strengthening the belief that abstinence can help prevent pregnancy and STIs/HIV.

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