April is STD Awareness Month

April has been designated by CDC as “STD Awareness Month” as an annual observance to raise awareness about the impact of sexually-transmitted infections on the health of Americans.  On the CDC website: www.cdc.gov/Features/STDAwareness/ you will find some sobering statistics on the incidence of STI’s especially among young people ages 15-24.  Statistics are not always effective in changing behaviors – especially in young people who are generally convinced that risks apply to others – a common feature of the “teen brain”.  CDC also points out the economic impact of STI’s: $15.9 billion annually in direct medical costs associated with these infections in Americans.  This is certainly why there was a push from the beginning in including STI prevention in the initiatives of the Obama stimulus plan.  There are obvious considerations with the future reforms to health care financing.

Nanobugs, inc has developed an STI Prevention Program for Teens and a powerpoint program to attempt to teach the appropriate microbiology related to the 9 STI pathogens.  We maintain that if individuals (especially teens) are informed about these microbes – call it “profiling” the pathogens – they will be more likely to engage in prevention behaviors (either abstinence or avoidance). 

The STI nanobugs can relieve most of the social pressure surrounding this topic in the classroom.  However, because of the restriction of time in the classroom to cover this section of the health curriculum, it is often covered superficially and combined the topic of pregnancy prevention. So I want to try something different: I am planning to take the STI nanobugs to the social networks this month to subtly inform people as they explore the profiles of these “microbes with attitude”.  My hope is that teens especially will assimilate the information more effectively on the internet than in the conventional classroom setting.

Well, did this discussion take your mind off the topic of this day: taxes? I hope so – STI’s are worse than taxes – no matter what tax bracket you are in – STI’s know no financial boundaries – they infect the rich and the poor and the uninformed.         And next year – I hope they will call this STI Prevention Month – we need move beyond awareness – to prevention.

This entry was posted on April 15th, 2009 at 12:00 am. RSS | Back to Blog Homepage.

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