By Nathan Sommer
Murphy News Service
The number of reported sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially chlamydia, contracted by Minnesota teenagers have doubled during this time span. That’s leaving health care workers across the state scratching their heads because the state’s teen pregnancy and birth rates have decreased by 58 percent since 1990.
Those were some of the issues addressed Nov. 13 by speakers at a Fridley public health forum, “Connecting the Dots: Preconception, Reproductive and Sexual Health,” sponsored by the Nucleus Clinic at the Unity Center for Learning and Development.
Anoka County’s rates are significantly lower than the state’s average. However, Nucleus Clinic Executive Director Becky Fink called the event “the first north suburban reproductive health community forum.” An audience of 60 health care professionals, educators, policy makers and members of the public attended the event.
Presentations focused on protecting, promoting and improving the health of adolescents, reproductive-age women and their partners by discussing teen pregnancy, sexual violence and coercion, the symptoms and diagnosis of STIs, GLBT reproductive health equality and the principles of preconception health.
The statewide proliferation of chlamydia was addressed by nearly every speaker. Dr. Chinwe Efuribe of Health Partners said a majority of chlamydia cases have been reported in teens and young adults, a problem she said could be reduced with better sexual education and parent communication.
Efuribe said “the talk” about sexual health and education should not be scrutinized as a serious or awkward event between parent and child, but rather “a natural progression of parenting and teenage development.”
Efuribe said the conversation must start with the parents. Teens who are more effectively educated about STIs and sexual health have been proven to wait longer to become sexually active than those who grow up in homes where sexual education is ignored or stigmatized and are far less likely to contract STIs like chlamydia.
New guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention call for sexual education to be integrated into clinical practice, and Efuribe said the problem could be better managed with STI screenings in all adolescents and adults who are sexually active.
Jill Farris, the director of training and education at Teenwise Minnesota, commended the statewide reduction in teen pregnancy and birth rates.
Farris said the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey revealed students are increasingly waiting longer to become sexually active, “amazing considering the amount of sexuality in pop culture swirling around the youth population.”
There was a 25 percent decrease in sexual activity amongst 9th graders in Minnesota from 2010 to 2013, as students listed fears of pregnancy, STIs and sexual immaturity as their primary motives for abstaining.
Farris said public health professionals still have a lot of work to do with teens, as condom usage rates have been steadily declining recently among 9th to 11th graders.
She was also concerned with the “huge discrepancy” in teen pregnancy, birth and STI rates existing between ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
“You can go a few neighborhoods over in certain cities and see populations with 50 times more cases of reported teen pregnancies and STIs,” Farris said.
She said rates in teen pregnancy, birth and STIs increase the further away a population is from an unbiased reproductive health clinic. Rural counties and areas near reservations consistently experience the highest rates in each category.
Dr. John Salisbury of the Rainbow Health Initiative spoke about health equality for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) community in Minnesota, as their data is largely absent from the state’s public health data collection process.
Salisbury said the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey was one of the first statewide government-funded attempts to include sexual orientation in its data collection.
He said a major limitation was that there were no open-ended, gender identification questions and that “students who did not identify as male or female had their answers thrown out.”
Salisbury’s goal for the next student survey is to eliminate potential limitations and said public health professionals must work closely with LGBTQ students and clients.
The LGBTQ community experiences higher rates of sexual activity and STI contraction, as well as lower condom usage and drug and alcohol use before or during sexual activity.
“Many things are generally worse for LGBTQ students, including grades, sexual health and assessments of self-worth,” Salisbury said.
Fink, the community forum’s organizer, said she was satisfied with the event’s attendance and progression and would “absolutely” considering holding such events in the future.
“We are very proud and could not be more pleased to have the support of 15 prominent community agencies,” Fink said, adding “the forum is a bright spot in local public health care.”
The Nucleus Clinic was founded in 1971 and is a non-profit clinic specializing in reproductive and sexual health and education. More information about the Nucleus Clinic can be found at www.nucleusclinic.org. Those interested in learning more about the forum’s presented topics can visit www.moapp.org, www.teenwisemn.org or www.rainbowhealth.org.
Reporter Nathan Sommer is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.