What is the..... Comprehensive
Sexuality Education Program?
The Comprehensive Sexuality Education Program is part of a statewide teen pregnancy prevention initiative that supports community-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among youth. The program promotes responsible decision making and skill building by providing school and community based education for youth and parents. Contractors use evidence based curricula and youth development programs that have been proven to delay sexual activity, improve contraceptive use among sexually active teens, and/or prevent teen pregnancy. Services are provided in school and after school at community settings.
Funding for the Comprehensive Sexuality Education Program comes from monies allocated to the Arizona Department of Health Services from funds remaining in the state lottery fund each fiscal year after appropriations and deposits authorized by law are made. The funds are used to contract with local communities to develop culturally diverse programs and strategies designed to:
- Reduce the incidence of teenage sexual activity and sexually transmitted
disease
- Implement a comprehensive media and public relations campaign to promote an
abstinence-only message
Currently 7 programs in Gila, Maricopa, Pinal, Yuma, Pima, and Yavapai Counties are being funded.
Why is this program
needed?
Arizona continues to have a teen birth rate that is higher than the national average even though there have been significant decreases since 1998, following the national trend.
According to the 2005 Title V Maternal and Child Health Needs
Assessment, in 2003 there were an estimated 26,691 mothers in Arizona who were younger than 20 years old, 13,654 girls under the age of 20 got pregnant, and 28% of those girls had been pregnant before.
The 2005 Arizona Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is a self-report survey of students in grades 9 through 12. This survey assesses behaviors among youth that contribute to the leading cause of morbidity and mortality during adolescence. The YRBS indicates that 42% of the youth surveyed have had sexual intercourse and that adolescents age 15 to 19 comprise 22.5% of Arizona’s gonorrhea epidemic, 31.9% of the chlamydia epidemic, and 12.1% of Arizona’s genital herpes epidemic.
What are the goals
of the program?
The goals of the program are to:
- Reduce the number of pregnancies to teenage girls age 15-19
- Reduce the number of repeat
pregnancies to teenage girls age 15-19
- Reduce the incidence of
sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers age 15-19
What has the
program achieved?
The 7 projects are newly funded and are in various stages of implementation. The projects are expected to reach 3,085 youth in curricula based programs, 238 youth in positive youth development programs, and 375 parents.
Need more information?
Dorothy Hastings, Education Section Manager
150 North 18th Avenue, Suite 320
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Phone: (602) 364-1423
Fax: (602) 364-1496
Email: hastind@azdhs.gov
Cameron
Lewis, Program Manager
Comprehensive Sexuality Education Program
Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health
150 North 18th Avenue, Suite 320
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Phone: (602) 364-1428
Fax: (602) 364-1495
Email: lewisc@azdhs.gov
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