(Newswire.net — December 11, 2015) — Sex education in US schools is still inadequate. It definitely does not follow a teenage trend of enganging in sexual activities very early in their life. It is very important to start with sexual education as soon as possible, because young adults are exposed to sex through media, social networks and their immediate surroundings from their early days.
Schools are an ideal place where they can be taught all they need to know about sex even before they reach the age they usually want to try it. It is imperative that they learn what to expect from sex and how to protect themselves.
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows that middle school and high school students in the United Strates should get more sex education, more information related to sexual health and how they can protect themselves from undesired pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD). CDC has produced the recommended sex education topics with guidelines, but it appears that very few schools in the US follow them, as it is said in the report. CDC recommended 16 topics which are scientifically grounded and which give information on most frequent issues like pregnancy, STD, types of infections, contraception and so on. Since teenagers start having sex relatively early, it is vital that they have all necessary information which will help them understand what they are dealing with and whether it is healthy to start having sex that early and what the possible consequences are if they are not adequately informed.
Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC’National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention director said:” We need to do a better job at giving our young people the skills and the knowledge they need to protect their own health. It is important to teach students about healthy relationships and how to reduce sexual risk before they start to have sex”.
Health experts are worried because many young people have sexual health problems, that could easily have been avoided if they had been provided with all necessary information. Many HIV and STD cases are reported with people younger than 25, which is very unfortunate and totally unnecessary. The number of these cases may be dramatically reduced with proper advice and help from their schools.
Dr. Stephanie Zaza, CDC division of Adolescent and School Health Director said in a press release:” Young people who have multiple sex partners, don’t use condoms and use drugs and alcohol before sex, are at higher risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. School-based sex education is a critical opportunity to provide the skills and information they need to protect themselves”.
This is a very big problem in the US. Schools that offer proper sex education are few. Schools in Arizona show the worst numbers, 21 percent for high schools and only 4 percent for middle schools. The best situation is in New Jersey, 91 percent for high schools, whereas North Carolina is in the lead with 46 percent when it comes to middle schools.
These figures show that schools lack serious sexual education and that CDC’s recommendation topics should be taught with more responsibility and care, in order to protect and prevent more young people nationwide from these grave diseases.