Teen pregnancy boosts girls' risk of getting fat

On MTV:

1/2 of all sexually active individuals will contract an STI before they're 25 and 1 in 3 women under 20 become pregnant in the US each year when they hadn't planned to. 

The Get Yourself Tested campaign sponsored by MTV, Kaiser, and other organizations and celebrities urges sexually active youth and adults to do the responsible thing and get themselves tested for STIs to protect not only their own health but also to protect the health of the one they love!  

On the market:

"Should Boys Get Cervical Cancer Vaccine?"  The vaccine to protect women from cervical cancer (99% of cases of cervical cancer are caused by a sexually transmitted virus known as HPV or human papillomavirus).  Merck pharmaceutical markets a vaccine by the name of Gardasil. Latest reports show the vaccine prevented 90 percent of cases of penile cancer and genital warts caused by the four common HPV virus strains targeted by the vaccine.  Since males carry the cancer-causing strains without any symptoms and pass the virus on to females, should we be lining our sons up, too?

Of concern in our community:

Downloadable/printable report on "sex under the influence" -- the connection between binge drinking and risk of STI's and unintended pregnancy

NPR Gets Inside the Minds of Teen Girls

KERA, the National Public Radio outlet for northern Texas, has launched, Boyfriends,  a year-long series on "the way adolescent girls form and maintain relationships."  Beginning with a series of radio reports about four teenagers who are coming to terms with pregnancy, KERA reporter Sujata Dand will follow these teens and others throughout the year and update her findings on the Boyfriends webpage.  A television documentary is scheduled to air in the fall of 2009.  Visit the Web page and - for those  outside of KERA’s listening area - check out the episodes online.