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10.01.2013
Resources

School Health Equity Newsletter February 2013

 

School Health Equity Newsletter

School Health Equity Newsletter – February 2013


Feature: May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month

Observed each May by states and communities throughout the country, NTPPM seeks to involve communities in promoting and supporting effective teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. Examples of some activities held in recognition of the month include hosting conferences or forums, teen health fairs, writing blogs or holding other forms of online events such as a Twitter townhall, as well as sponsoring public service announcements.

Check out the NTPPM Planning Guidebook, poster, and other materials in Advocates’ online shop for more ideas to plan and host your own event!  For more information contact Barbara Huberman, barbarah@advocatesforyouth.org.


Professional Development and Capacity Building

In the Know: Social Media for Public Health. The National Prevention Information Network has launched In the Know: Social Media for Public Health, a series of six webcasts that focus on different social media channels and provide basic information, tips, and hints for how to use them. Topics include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ among others. For more information about the webinar series, click here.

Adolescent Sexuality Conference. This conference is for educators, health personnel, administrators, counselors, social and youth service workers, parents, clergy, teen parents, program staff, teens, community members and others who which to increase their knowledge and skills in addressing adolescent sexuality issues. Emphasis is on covering a wide spectrum of adolescent sexuality topics. The theme for this year’s conference is Youth Sexual Health & Social Justice: Room for Everyone. The conference will be held in Seaside, Oregon from April 22-23, 2013. The early bird registration fee through March 22, 2013 is $150. For more information about the conference, click here.

National School-Based Health Care Convention. The 2013 National School-Based Health Care
Convention will be held in Washington, DC from June 23-26, 2013. This year’s theme is Redefining Health for Kids and Teens. To register for the conference, click here. For more information about the conference including the workshop list, click here.


Funding Opportunities

Announcement of Availability of Funds for Support for Expectant and Parenting Teens, Women, Fathers and Their Families. This grant opportunity from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, is for the development and implementation of programs for expectant and parenting teens, women, fathers and their families. Non-binding Letters of Intent are due March 15, 2013 by 5pm ET while the application deadline is April 10, 2013. For more information about this grant opportunity, click here.

Revision Applications for Research on Assessing the Role of Stigma in HIV Prevention and Care (R01). This grant opportunity from the National Institutes of Health is to support research to understand the role of stigma in HIV prevention and care. The closing date for the application is May 1, 2013. To apply for this opportunity and for more information, click here.

STD Surveillance Network (SSuN). The STD Surveillance Network is a five-year Cooperative Agreement that will fund a network of eligible state, county, city or tribal health department STD and/or HIV surveillance and/or prevention programs to implement enhanced and sentinel surveillance projects addressing STD surveillance problems of national, state, and local interest. For more information about this grant opportunity, click here.


Recent Publications

Promising Strategies and Existing Gaps in Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Teens: Summary of Expert Panel Workgroup Meetings. In January and July 2012, the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) convened a panel of experts to discussed strategies and gaps in the field of support for pregnant and parenting teens. This publication presents findings from the workgroup meetings, including 1) promising practices in reaching, engaging and retaining pregnant and parenting teens 2) effective program components when working with pregnant and parenting teens, and 3) concrete examples for implementing those core components. To read the publication, click here.

Predictors of repeat Chlamydia trachomatis and/or Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections among African-American adolescent women.The objective of this study was to identity baseline predictors of repeat Chlamydia and/or gonorrhea infections among African-American adolescent women. The study concludes that among young African-American women who test positive for Chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, tailored interventions may help reduce risk of repeat infections. Additionally, given the high numbers of repeat infections, enhanced screening and treatment services for young men may also be warranted. To access the article, click here.

Bullying climate and school engagement in ninth-grade students. This study tested the contention that a climate of bullying can have a school wide impact on student engagement in school. The study found that school-level differences in student perceptions of bullying climate were associated with both lower commitment to school and less involvement in school activities. In efforts to improve student engagement, consideration should be given to school wide impact of bullying on all students. For more on this study, click here.


Announcements/News

Sex Diseases Cost $16 Billion a Year to Treat, CDC Says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that it costs the United States $16 billion annually to treat eight STDs – HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, Chlamydia, trichomoniasis, herpes, and human papillomavirus (HPV). Of the estimated 19.7 million newly diagnosed sexually transmitted infections each year, about half of these infections among young people ages 15 to 24. Young women in particular have been disproportionately affected by STDs because many lack good insurance or easy healthcare access. To read the full article, click here.

Social Media May Prove Useful in Prevention of HIV, STDs, Study Shows. A study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that social networking sites were useful in preventing STDs among groups that were vulnerable. The researchers created health forums and found that African-American and Latino men who had sex with men (MSM) used the sites to discuss HIV-related issues like stigma, knowledge of HIV, and HIV prevention, and to request home HIV testing kits. To read the full article, click here.


Resources


To submit an article, announcement, or resource for the School Health Equity Newsletter, please call Sulava at 202.419.3420 ext. 65 or email her at sulava@advocatesforyouth

You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, please click here.

School Health Equity Newsletter

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