STD Rates: New Administration Must Revamp Prevention and Promote Safer Sex, Condom Usage, Says AHF

Latest CDC Report Shows Rates of Gonorrhea, Syphilis and Chlamydia Rise Dramatically in Youth and Minority Populations; Incoming CDC Director Must Overhaul Failed Prevention Policies

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alarming new statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding sexually transmitted disease rates in the US show a steep jump in many STDs including Gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia, particularly among minority and youth populations. These stark numbers suggest that the incoming Obama Administration and its yet-to-be named Director of the CDC must quickly implement proven and effective prevention strategies such as safer sex messages and the widespread promotion of condom usage rather than continuing it disproportionate reliance on what has been to be proven to be largely ineffective abstinence-only strategies.

“We do a profound disservice to today’s youth by denying them crucial information about how to protect their own health, and these latest CDC numbers are a scathing indictment of our country’s failed public health policies over the past eight years”

“We do a profound disservice to today’s youth by denying them crucial information about how to protect their own health, and these latest CDC numbers are a scathing indictment of our country’s failed public health policies over the past eight years,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “President-elect Obama must empower his incoming CDC Director to quickly revamp failing STD prevention policies and adopt science-based strategies that actually work to prevent disease. This should include the promotion of safer sex as well widespread condom availability and use. The CDC is a government body with an obligation to disseminate crucial information in order to protect the public health.”

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US’ largest non-profit HIV/AIDS organization as well as the operator of California’s largest alternative, community-based HIV testing program, administering over 14,000 tests per year. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than 94,000 individuals in 21 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org