ALARMING DATA ON SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE MAY SHOW POLICY FAILURES

February 24, 2004, Los Angeles, CA -- AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) expressed great concern today over Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that nearly half of new sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases in the United States occur among 15- to 24-year-olds.

Published in the January/February issue of “Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health,” the research focuses on eight of the most common STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, trichomoniasis, and HIV. Estimates of new cases are gleaned from the latest STD incidence and prevalence data from 2000 in scientific literature, including CDC data.

The research finds that although they account for only 25 percent of sexually experienced populations, young people aged 15 to 24 represent 48 percent, or 9.1 million, of the 18.9 million new cases of STD in 2000. Further, research indicates that 75 percent of new HIV infections (30,000) in 2000 were contracted through sexual intercourse, and 15,000 of these were contracted by persons aged 15-24. The report assumes that young people contract 50 percent of new HIV infections each year.

“The impoverished sexual health of America’s youth by STDs is disheartening and preventable,” said Craig E. Thompson, APLA executive director. “These data represent the social dividends of our current investment in condom disinformation and rigid abstinence-only sexual education programming. The time has come to reassess this portfolio and to reinvent our approaches to STD prevention and control.”

AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest AIDS service organizations, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV or AIDS in Los Angeles County each year. Services include prevention education, food banks and nutrition education, professional dental care, housing assistance, transportation, mental health counseling, case management and home health care. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level. For more information, please visit www.apla.org.

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