School Health Equity Newsletter – July 2013 Feature: Elements of Youth-Friendly Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Services This new poster by the CDC features components of youth-friendly contraceptive and reproductive health services for a teen visiting a health clinic. Components of youth-friendly services include confidentiality, privacy, consent, accessibility, cultural and linguistic appropriateness, comprehensive services, and parent/guardian involvement. To access the poster and addition information and resources, click here. Capacity Building and Professional Development Adolescents and STDs: A Call to Action for Providers and Health Plans. Hosted by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation and the National Chlamydia Coalition, this webinar highlights the opportunities for improving the prevention and diagnosis of STDs among adolescents. In addition to resources for communicating with providers, participants will learn about the potential of the Affordable Care Act to improve access to STD services, how to effectively reach adolescents, and about a successful health plan in Minnesota. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at 1:00pm EDT. To register, click here. School Health Advisory Councils: National, State, and Local Perspectives on the Value of SHACs for Supporting Children and Adolescents. The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in collaboration with the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health are hosting a webinar on School Health Advisory Councils (SHACs). The webinar will provide an overview of the value of SHACs from the national, state, and local perspectives and the role they play in supporting healthy children and adolescents. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 1:30pm CDT. To register for the webinar, click here. Evaluating Retention in Care and Viral Suppression: How Effective are Testing and Linkage to Care Interventions in Louisiana? This webinar hosted by the National Minority AIDS Council features presenters from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. They will discuss key components of the Louisiana Public Health Information Exchange and its long-term effectiveness in linking and retaining HIV-infected persons in medical care. Participants will also learn about success rates of linkage to and retention in HIV care in publicly funded HIV testing sites and the benefits and challenges of program evaluation. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm EDT. Click here to register. Grant Opportunities The Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award. This award is given each year to community agencies and health organizations that support people excluded from, or underserved by, the mainstream health delivery system: farm workers, homeless children, pregnant teens, low-income mothers and infants, individuals who do not have the strength or means to reach a hospital or clinic. The award is for $100,000 with an additional $120,000 awards divided among five runners-up. The deadline to submit an application is Wednesday, July 31, 2013. For more information on this opportunity and to apply, click here. Campaign for Black Male Achievement. The Open Society Campaign for Black Male Achievement aims to create hope and opportunities for black men and boy who are significantly marginalized from U.S. economic, social, and political life. The campaign seeks to promote education equity, strengthen low-income black families, and promote leadership development and advocacy/organization training, among others. The application deadline for this opportunity is ongoing. For more information about this grant, including eligibility requirements, click here. Recent Publications A Review of Interventions With Parents to Promote the Sexual Health of Their Children. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of interventions involving parents or caregivers intended to improve the sexual health of their children. After reviewing 44 programs that were delivered in diverse settings, the study concluded that while targeted programs with intensive parental involvement can modify adolescents’ sexual behaviors, the review was limited by the lack of rigorous evaluations. To read more about the study, click here. Linkage to Care for Youth: Lessons Learned from Project SMILE. This Research to Practice Brief is part of a series developed by the Center for Strengthening Youth Prevention Paradigms (SYPP Center) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, to ensure that emerging research on HIV prevention is available to service providers. This brief focuses on the Strategic Multi-site Initiative for Linkage and Engagement in HIV-related Care (Project SMILE) which develops and tests protocols to ensure that all youth ages 12-24 diagnosed with HIV are linked to HIV medical care and engaged and retained in care in order to improve their outcomes and reduce the risk of transmission. To read the full brief, click here. Life Experiences of Instability and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among High-Risk Adolescent Females. This new analysis examines the relationship between instability in the lives of a sample of sexually active teens and the young people’s likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors. According to the study, teens’ level of individual risk (reflecting substance abuse, violence perpetration, violence victimization and having witnessed violence) was positively related to the number of sex partners they reported at a six-month follow-up, while extent of family disengagement (encompassing family disconnection, poor family communication and perceived lack of safety at home) was negatively associated with consistent condom use six months later. The study recommends that teen health services include an assessment of teens’ individual- and family-level instability, and that health systems address the unique service needs of vulnerable youth. For more information, click here. Announcements/News STD Treatment Guidelines App. The CDC has released a new STD treatment app to help health care providers identify and treat patients for STDs. Topics covered in the STD Treatment (Tx) Guide app include diagnosis and treatment of 21 STDs and sexual assault; access to full STD Treatment Guidelines; and “A Guide to Taking a Sexual History.” The free app is available for Apple and Android devices. For information about the app, click here. New Infographic: Contraception is Highly Effective. A new infographic created by the Guttmacher Institute documents that correct and consistent contraceptive use is critical and high effective. The two-thirds of U.S. women at risk of unintended pregnancy who use contraception consistently and correctly throughout the course of any given year account for only five percent of all unintended pregnancies. The 19 percent of women at risk who use contraception inconsistently account for 43 percent of unintended pregnancies, while the 16 percent of women at risk who use no contraceptive method at all for a month or more during the year account for 52 percent. To view the infographic, click here. Updated New Media Toolkit Now Available on AIDS.gov. The “New Media Tools” section of AIDS.gov has been recently updated. The section features overviews of new medial tools such as blogs, mashups, mobile, online collaboration tools, photo sharing sites, and podcasts. The section also provides a description of the tools, data on who is using the tool, ideas for how to use the tool in the HIV community, examples from the field, and resources and references. For more information about this new tool, 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
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