NOVEMBER 2015
Advocates for Youth Updates Publications:
Advocates for Youth has recently updated its HIV/STI Prevention and Young Men Who Have Sex with Men and Sexuality Education publications. HIV/STI Prevention and Young Men Who Have Sex with Men highlights the disparities that affect YMSM and how that impacts the health and well-being of this population. To access the YMSM fact sheet, click here.
Sexuality Education: Building an evidence- and rights-based approach to healthy decision-making addresses what makes sexual health education comprehensive and the positive outcomes for students in schools and for their sexual and reproductive health. To read this publication, click here.
RESOURCES
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) Atlas. The NCHHSTP Atlas is a tool that gives you the power to analyze, map, and create tables using more than 10 years of HIV, STD, hepatitis, and TB data that are reported to CDC. The Atlas has a Basic Query and an Advanced Query function. With the Basic Query, you can map diseases by year, area, and population. Using the Advanced Query, you can create tables, and it also gives you more flexibility when comparing diseases, areas, and populations. To learn more about the tool, click here.
YTHINFO. Youth+Tech+Health has launched YTHINFO, a new Short Message Service (SMS) campaign reaching youth weekly with HIV prevention information and resources tailored to their needs and lifestyles. YTHINFO also allows users to search for local HIV testing sites and sexual health services from their phone. YTH’s SMS-based clinic locator provides information about local free and low-cost sexual health clinics from the CDC NPIN database. Users can text in and YTHINFO will provide four of the closest youth-friendly clinics. To find out more about the campaign, click here.
School-Based Health Center (SBHC) Literature Database. The School-Based Health Alliance recently released the School-Based Health Centers Literature Database, a resource that can be used to explore more than 140 peer-reviewed articles that have been published about school-based health centers (SBHCs) from the 1970s to the present. The database can be used to search for articles by topic, grade-level focus, author name, or year published. All entries in the database include the article’s objective, findings, and a link to the abstract. To view the tool, click here.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Parent Engagement in Schools. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent School Health (DASH) recently released a resource to support parent engagement as HIV/STD prevention. Promoting Parent Engagement in Schools to Prevent HIV and other STDs Among Teens: Information for State and Local Education Agencies presents information that links parent engagement in schools to HIV/STD prevention. The resource is also supported by a Strategy Guide for Engaging Parents in School Health, Staff Development Program for Engaging Parents in School Health, and various factsheets. To view the resources, click here.
Protective Effects of Middle School Comprehensive Sex Education With Family Involvement. This article recently published in the Journal of School Health concludes, “theory-based, developmentally appropriate, comprehensive sex education programs that include parent involvement can be effective in delaying vaginal sex for middle school students.” This article can support the education of decision makers on the need for sexual health education in schools and parent involvement in prevention programs. To read the article, click here.
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child: Expanding the Evidence Base. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with others launched the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model for school health. Experts in the field of school health and education have published ten articles in the November 2015 special supplement the Journal of School Health which serve as a resource for practitioners implementing the model to create healthy school environments that support health and learning. To read the articles, click here.
Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing of Teenagers Aged 15–19 in the United States. This report recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that the percentage of male and female teens who have had sexual intercourse at least once has declined in the 25-year period between 1988 and 2013. The report uses data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to provide trends and recent national estimates of sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing among teenagers. To view the full report, click here.
CAPACITY BUILDING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Free Core Skills Training Workshop. Answer and Cardea Services are partnering to provide a free, six-hour core skills training on sexual health education teacher competencies. The training will take place on Wednesday, December 16th from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Answer’s Piscataway, NJ office. To register, please call the Answer office at (848) 445-7929.
Connecting Kids to Coverage Resources. The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign recently hosted a webinar on school-based outreach to cover a range of perspectives on why schools are a central focus for outreach activities and how to engage school leaders in outreach and enrollment activities. To view the webinar, click here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
National HIV Prevention Conference. Come visit Advocates for Youth during the National HIV Prevention Conference at the NGO Village on Monday, December 7, 2015. The showcase will take place from 6:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. on the third level of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel in the Atrium Ballroom.
National Sexuality Education Standards Survey. The Future of Sex Education partners are interested in learning more about how the National Sexuality Education Standards are informing your work implementing sexuality education. They also want to know how to make them better. Can you take ten minutes to let them know if and how you’ve used the National Sexuality Education Standards? To participate in the survey, click here.
Adolescent Health: Think, Act, Grow (TAG). The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is leading the U.S. in a national call to action to improve adolescent health. To learn more about the campaign and view resources, click here.
Conference on Adolescent Health. The Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI) has issued a Call for Posters for the Third Annual Conference on Adolescent Health. The 2016 Conference will take place on April 18-19, 2016 at the Ann Arbor Marriott in Ypsilanti, Michigan. To complete the abstract form, click here.
School Health Services Success Stories. The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health (AAP COSH), the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), the American School Health Association (ASHA), and the School Based Health Alliance (SBHA) are leading an effort to disseminate information about successful school health services collaborative programs and/or successful personal experiences from physicians and school nurses across the US. This template is intended for use by school health services programs, school health services professionals, and school-based health centers to describe their successful programs/activities. Selected success stories will be disseminated by collaborating organizations on their websites, newsletters, and advocacy materials. To view the template, click here.
To submit an article, announcement, or resource for the School Health Equity Newsletter, please call email Januari at januari@advocatesforyouth.org
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