Wrap it up

Sexually transmitted disease diagnoses hit record highs in the United States for the fourth straight year with over 2 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis reported in 2017. Data released from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a 30 percent increase in the past five years. The U.S. has the highest STD rates in the industrialized world with a growing number of babies born with syphilis and a terrifying spread of drug-resistant gonorrhea. STDs are preventable; these life-threatening infections cost our health care system more than $16 billion each year. Part of the problem is that state and local agencies rely on federal funding, which has decreased in purchasing power 40 percent since 2003. Programs have been eliminated, clinics have closed, and outbreak-response capacity has been curtailed. Studies repeatedly show that abstinence-only education does not work—it’s increasingly important to advocate for proper sex education.

Source: National Coalition of STD Directors