Posts
Washington State’s Office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction (OSPI) announced its recent receipt of a five-year, $1.85 million
grant to implement school-based sexual health programs that would include
information on HIV and STD prevention. CDC awarded the grant, called “Promoting
Adolescent Health Through School-Based HIV/STD Prevention and School-based
Surveillance,” to 19 states and 17 school districts to teach students about
healthy relationships by providing them with sexual health education and access
to sexual health services.
According to Washington’s 2012 Healthy Youth Survey,
approximately three fifths of high school seniors are sexually active. “The
most effective way to help students learn about healthy relationships, and to
help them learn how to reduce the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted
diseases is by educating them,” according to Randy Dorn, state superintendent
of public instruction. “The grant we received from the CDC will help us do just
that.”
The grants total $14 million and will help CDC partner with
states to decrease high-risk sexual behavior and increase STD prevention and
contraceptive use. OSPI will work with several state and national
organizations, including Washington’s Association of nine regional Educational
Service Districts.
