Alarming News - Half of Black Teen Girls Has an STD?

Last Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control released a study that found that one in four young women or 3.2 teenage girls are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. To top it off according to the study, nearly half of African American girls (or 48%) in this age group has least one of the following: the human Papillomavirus (HPV), Chlamydia, herpes, or Trichomoniasis, with HPV leading the charge. I find this statistic alarming because in essence one out of two African American females between 14 – 19 has an STD. The two most common STDs in the study -- HPV, and Chlamydia -- may not show any symptoms.

The report, sponsored by the CDC and conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics took a national sample of 838 young women. The study did not include the STDs syphilis, HIV or gonorrhea. According to Dr. Stuart Berman, Chief of Epidemiology and Surveillances, STDs at the Centers for Disease Control, "Put in context, you take a sample, but a sample done in a smart way, so you can extrapolate the data. What this study says, is that this is a problem for the country. It's your kid, my kid, the neighbor across the street."

While I am not the parent of a teenager, I think that we all should be aware of what is happening in our communities, in this country, and for that matter, globally. It concerns me that we are not properly educating our youth and if this trend continues it could be very problematic in the future. Social and economic issues, such as access to health care, and low or no health insurance are major contributory factors to this crisis.