STD Policies
Policies to Reduce STD Transmission among NW Tribes
Community-Based Interventions
In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center on AIDS & Community Health (COACH) offers training and technical assistance on twelve science-based, effective interventions for HIV prevention.
Information on available interventions can be found at: http://www.effectiveinterventions.org/
Clinic-Based Policies
To improve clinic screening, testing, and treatment services, Project Red Talon worked with Coalition members and the national IHS STD Program to develop a self-administered clinic-based STD Policy Checklist.
Link to Checklist: Policy Checklist (pdf 4263 KB)
The checklist covers a range of critical clinical STD services, including: recommended STD screening and treatment protocols, required STD morbidity reporting for defined diseases, required STD laboratory reporting for defined diseases, strict confidentiality of records, implementing a partner notification system, using Expedited Partner Delivered Therapy, implementing prenatal STD tests, and creating policies that allow minors to access services without parental consent, among others.
The clinical practices included in the policy checklist can play an integral role in reducing STD transmission in our tribal communities. Please contact Project Red Talon for technical assistance or examples demonstrating how these policies have been successfully implemented by other NW Tribes. Your support and use of these policies the 2006 STD Treatment Guidelines are invaluable to the health of our communities. CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines, 2006: http://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/
School-Based Policies
Evidence shows that comprehensive sexuality education programs that provide information about both abstinence and contraception can help delay the onset of sexual activity in teenagers, reduce their number of sexual partners, and increase contraceptive use when they become sexually active - thus preventing STDs and teen pregnancy.
Sex and Pregnancy Among Teenagers
• By their 18th birthday, 6 in 10 teenage women and nearly 7 in 10 teenage men have had sexual intercourse. A sexually active teenager who does not use contraception has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. One quarter of sexually active teens will get an STD this year, and Native youth may be at even higher risk.
Sexuality Education in the Classroom
• Sexuality education teachers are less likely to provide students with information on birth control, how to obtain contraceptive services, sexual orientation, and abortion than they were 15 years ago.
• Despite the decline, the majority of U.S. parents, teachers, and students overwhelmingly favor broader sex education—and 94% of parents say that sex education should cover contraception. At least 40% of students report that topics such as STDs and HIV, birth control, how to use and where to obtain birth control, and how to handle pressure to have sex were not adequately covered in their most recent sexuality education course.
State Policy – Idaho, Oregon, and Washington laws require academic instruction about HIV/STDs, but do not require sex education. Thirty states require local school districts to teach about abstinence: Oregon requires that it be “stressed” and requires that contraception be “covered”. No states require that birth control information be emphasized.
Local Policy – Even when a state policy on sex education exists, significant latitude and oversight is left to local school districts. A national survey of school superintendents found that more than two-thirds (69%) of U.S. school districts have a policy to teach sex education. The remaining 31% leave the decisions about whether to teach such curriculum to individual schools.
References:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_sex_ed02.html
and http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/3224-index.cfm.
