'Sex should be taught at younger age' – report

YOUNG people need to be taught about sex and relationship education at an earlier age, according to a Swindon Council report.

The findings come after Swindon Primary Care Trust and Swindon Youth Service held a series of discussion groups with more than 140 of the town's youngsters.

The survey was carried out to help develop the Swindon Teenage Pregnancy Action Plan and will be presented before a joint meeting of the Health Scrutiny and the Children's Overview Committee on Thursday.

Young people between the ages of 11 and 17 were asked about what kind of advice they required in relation to sexual health and relationships and what information they would like to receive from their parents and teachers.

Read More Here

Being a mum made me grow up quickly

By Sarah Hilley

A YOUNG mum who gave birth at 15 has been drafted in to help the Swindon Primary Care Trust teenage pregnancy unit warn youngsters against underage sex.

Emma Page's toddler is now 18 months old and she is only 17.

She has been working on a campaign at the PCT to help it educate youngsters about safe sex.
She advises teenagers to "use a condom and use it properly."

Read More Here

Teen pregnancy prevention coalition targets parents

by ERIN CUNNINGHAM

Thursday March 29, 2007

HAGERSTOWN - The Washington County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition said it will use parental influence to help reduce the county's teen birth rate, which is the fourth highest in the state.
Coalition Coordinator Carrol Lourie said the county ranks behind Baltimore City, and Caroline and Dorchester counties on the Eastern Shore, according to birth rates among 15- to 19-year-olds in 2004, the most recent year from which data is available.

Read more here

Co-sex education needed - Routledge

Boyd Webb
March 21 2007 at 11:32AM

Men and women must be taught how to use condoms together so that they can help each other "when the situation arises".This was what Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge told the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday.

It was believed they needed to know how the opposite sex's condom worked, she said. This also ensured they were used correctly.

Read More Here

DAVINA TALKS SEX

INSTEAD of waiting until she felt ready, Davina McCall caved in to pressure and had sex way too early.

Rather than it being a special moment, she threw her virginity away. And she bitterly regrets it.
"I lost my virginity at too young an age," admits Davina, speaking exclusively to the Mirror. "I won't say how young in case my granny is reading this!
"I got cajoled into it - as many young girls do.
"If I'd had the sort of education that is on offer now I probably would have had the strength to say no.

Read More Here

Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health

Youth & Health California County Addresses Teen Pregnancy Rate Among Hispanics
[Mar 21, 2007]

Cultural differences and beliefs, as well as language barriers, likely contribute to the high teen pregnancy rate in a Santa Cruz County, Calif., community that is mostly Hispanic, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports in a two-part series.

The county's city of Watsonville, where many residents have come from rural parts of Mexico, has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the county, according to the Sentinel. In 2005, four of every five births among women ages 15 to 19 in the county were to Watsonville residents, according to a Community Assessment Project report.

The county's overall teen birth rate has dropped by 18% since 1996, but Watsonville's decline has been "barely noticeable," the Sentinel reports.

Read More Here

Christian Youth Abstinence Programme Launches in Norwich

Christian youth workers in Norwich have launched an initiative with a group of teenagers in try to make a dent in the rising number of teenage pregnancies.

by Gretta Curtis
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2007, 8:46 (GMT)

Christian youth workers in Norwich have launched an initiative with a group of teenagers to try to make a dent in the rising number of teenage pregnancies.

Romance Academy, which was opened Tuesday, takes a dozen 14 to 16-year-olds and challenges them to go without sex throughout the 15-week course.

The six boys and six girls will instead meet each week to focus on topics such as building and sustaining healthy relationships, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, drugs and alcohol, and self-image.

The course, organised by Pregnancy Crisis Norfolk (PCN), is inspired by the popular BBC2 series No Sex Please We're Teenagers.

It is being run by Christian youth workers Sarah Woodger and David Lanchester.

Read More Here