November 4, 2009

Spread the Word

Assalamualaikum…….

Teenage pregnancy is an ongoing problem in today’s society, In fact it seems that everyone has an idea about how to “solve” the problem of teenage pregnancy, yet not much has changed. While small strides have been made in reducing the number of teenage pregnancies, the amount of money spent on prevention programs is disproportionate to the outcome. There are many possible reasons for this, such as the wrong populations are getting the wrong information, or teenagers are just not getting any information at all. However, as a society, we cannot respond to this by throwing up our hands and giving up! Rather we need to figure out what will work.
Because of widespread social concern over teen pregnancy, numerous prevention programs have been implemented throughout the nation.

According to American Medical Student Association who conducted a review of various teen pregnancy prevention programs across the country has evaluated five different types of prevention programs:
1) education programs
2) contraception distribution programs
3) programs designed to improve parent-child communication about sexual topics
4) multiple component programs
5) youth development programs

After I have read through the handbook published online, (feel free to access the web site: http://www.amsa.org) my conclusion is that of all the programs, multi-component programs, which included a range of community and media activities, showed promise for decreasing teen pregnancy rates when the programs were maintained for long periods of time. My evaluation on youth development programs, which focused on building self-esteem and learning life-skills, might be effective too at decreasing teen pregnancy rates. However, results of the National Longitudinal Study on adolescent Health suggested that greater time spent in parent-child activities reduced the likelihood of the child becoming a teen parent.

Untill next time…..

1 comment:

  1. Statistic About Teenage Pregnancy

    Assalamualaikum..
    I'm very sory to make problem to all of you.I know its too late but I'll try my best. Ok guys.
    Teenage pregnancy is defined as a teenaged or underage girl (usually within the ages of 13–19) becoming pregnant. The term in everyday speech usually refers to women who have not reached legal adulthood, which varies across the world, who become pregnant.
    The average age of menarche (first menstrual period) in the United States is 12 years old, though this figure varies by ethnicity and weight, and first ovulation occurs only irregularly until after this. The average age of menarche has been declining and continues to do so. Whether fertility leads to early pregnancy depends on a number of factors, both societal and personal. Worldwide, rates of teenage pregnancy range from 143 per 1000 in some sub-Saharan African countries to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea.
    Pregnant teenagers face many of the same obstetrics issues as women in their 20s and 30s. However, there are additional medical concerns for younger mothers, particularly those under 15 and those living in developing countries.

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