Human Services Offers Teen Pregnancy, STDs Workshop
5/20/2005
Wake County Human Services will present a seminar on "Teen Pregnancy and STDs" for male and female teens and their parents Saturday, May 21, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Wake County Human Services Sunnybrook Building, 10 Sunnybrook Road, Raleigh.
The pregnancy rates for adolescents ages 13 to19 have decreased in Wake County by 74 percent since 1990. According to the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, teen pregnancy rates have declined for the 13th year in a row to the lowest rates since 1990. Overall, teen pregnancy rates have declined by 42 percent in North Carolina.
While pregnancy rates have declined, concern for exposure to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remains high. Locally, Chlamydia is the number-one STD for ages 13-19. From 2000 to 2004, Wake County teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for more than one-third of all local Chlamydia cases. For the same time period, 40 percent of all Chlamydia cases reported statewide were for the ages 13-19.
"The scariest part of this, of course, is that if teens are still getting Chlamydia and gonorrhea in such high numbers, they are not using protection, and are thus wide open for exposure to HIV," said Dr. David Damsker, Wake County Human Services' medical epidemiologist.
Gonorrhea is the second-highest STD in Wake County, with 24 percent of all reported cases for adolescents between 13 and 19 in 2004. From 2000 to 2004, statewide, 40 percent all gonorrhea cases were for teens between 13 and 19. Wake County reported six HIV and three syphilis cases for this same age group in 2004.
"Wake County Chlamydia rates have remained high over the last few years for our teen population, with no sign of decline," said Carolyn Stokes, physician extender for the Human Services Women's and Teen Clinic. "Gonorrhea rates also show no sign of going down."
Workshop participants will learn about the social and physical effects of teen pregnancy, depression in teens and STDs. For more information, contact Carolyn Stokes at 250-1265.
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