CDC Study On Rate Of Common STIs Among Girls, Young Women 'Already Old' To Public Health Workers, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 24 Mar 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Recent findings from a CDC study that about 25% of U.S. girls and young women ages 14 to 19 have at least one of four common sexually transmitted infections is "already old" news for public health workers, Robert Fullilove, associate dean at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Adaora Adimora, associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Peter Leone of the North Carolina Division of Public Health write in a Washington Post opinion piece. They add that public health workers "fear this latest study will have its 15 minutes in the spotlight and also fade from view," just like a similar study released more than 10 years ago by the Institute of Medicine did.

"Despite the huge costs that [STIs] imposed on our health care system, awareness of their importance was all but absent from the public consciousness" when the IOM study was released, the authors write. They add that the "national silence" on STIs might be associated with the country's "difficulty discussing the roles that race and poverty play in these trends." The "taboo" of talking about sexual behavior, poverty and race is one "obvious reason" rates of STIs remain high, the authors write, adding, another is "that the incidence of [STIs], particularly HIV, is concentrated in poor, segregated neighborhoods that are characterized by high rates of incarceration." The "shift" in marriage and courtship patterns that result from men being incarcerated, as well as an increase in the number of "multiple concurrent sexual partnerships," also are contributing to the problem, according to the authors.

STIs cost the U.S. "tens of billions of dollars" annually, "but with the exception of HIV infection, [STIs] remain the elephant in the room when it comes to the national conversation about health and health care," the authors write. They add, "We can no longer have effective [STI] prevention campaigns in poor communities of color if they treat one person at a time or ignore social conditions underpinning high rates of HIV and other" STIs. "Simply put, we will never rid the U.S. of HIV and other [STIs] if our only weapon is medical treatment," the authors write, concluding, "And if we are unable to engage in a national dialogue about the sexual health of our youths and the social dynamics that drive [STIs], this epidemic will go largely ignored, and many more lives will be lost" (Fullilove et al., Washington Post, 3/21).

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