NACCHO has a long history of providing support to LHDs to address the health needs of young people. Numerous projects within NACCHO support the work of LHDs in addressing adolescent mortality and morbidity, specifically in the areas of injury prevention, mental and reproductive health, HIV and STD prevention, tobacco prevention, and obesity prevention.
The Adolescent Health program's goals are to build NACCHO's capacity to address adolescent health needs and enhance LHDs' ability to identify and address adolescents' needs in their communities.
Recent epidemiology has shown that teen pregnancy rates have been dropping in the United States since 1990 (1). However, new research has shown this pattern reversing, teen pregnancy rates are now rising for the first time in 14 years (2). Adolescent pregnancy has become an increasingly complex issue to deal with, namely because of the diverse array of influencers on adolescent behavior.
Local health departments must work to address adolescent pregnancy through partnering with community members and organizations to tackle the many facets of this increasingly complex issue through prevention strategies such as comprehensive sex education.
(1) Estimated Pregnancy Rates by Outcome for the United States, 1990-2004. CDC, 2008.
(2) Births: Preliminary Data for 2006. CDC, 2007.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Spotlight |
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Plaintalk.org: Presented by the Annie E. Casey Foundation |
The Annie E. Casey Foundation presents www.plaintalk.org
In an effort to address the causes of unintended adolescent pregnancy, the Annie E. Casey Foundation developed a program that provides a unique approach to the prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This program, entitled 'Plain Talk', attempts to address this difficult issue through providing the most factual, honest, and clear information as possible to adolescents.
The reasoning behind this approach to dealing with adolescent pregnancy is simple. If you increase adult/teen communication about sex, and increase sexually active teens' access to contraceptives, you will decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies, STDs and HIV/AIDS. Through increased access to honest information, the program allows adolescents to make more informed decisions about sexual behaviors, helping to allow adolescents to make smarter, more informed decisions about sex.
To learn more about the program, visit their website at http://www.plaintalk.org.
Also visit the NACCHO Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STI Prevention Initiative: Effective Interventions for Local Health Departments website for resources such as archived webcasts about the "plain talk" approach to addressing adolescent pregnancy.
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The Plain Talk Approach to Teen Pregnancy & Teen HIV/STD Prevention: The Role of Local Health Departments |
| Through support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, NACCHO is conducting activities designed to raise the awareness of local health departments about Plain Talk/Hablando Claro, an evidence-based Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STD Prevention program developed by the foundation. More |
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Partners in Program Planning for Adolescent Health (PIPPAH) |
Through a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Office of Adolescent Health, NACCHO is participating in activities to build its capacity to address adolescent health issues. |
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Adolescent Health Related Model and Promising Practices |
Mental Health Adolescent School Health Program Reproductive Health Guys Only After School Program Power On: Parent/Child Human Sexuality Programs Project A.S.K. (Adolescents Seeking Knowledge) Teen Pregnancy Project/ Sexual Violence Action Team
Nutrition and Physical Activity Violence Prevention Second Step: A Violence Prevention Initiative Positive Youth Development |
