Black Teens and The Message About HIV

As I ride Septa buses to every engagement in my life, I see many advertisements about HIV. Whether it be two men or a man and woman, the message is beginning to make some change in the Black communities. New data from the U.S CDC showed that Black high school students are engaging in risky sexual behaviors far less than they were 20 years ago. Here are some staggering statistics. 

1. The percentage of Black high school students who have ever had sex has declined since 1991, from 82-60%.
2. There has also bee a huge drop in Black teens who have had multiple sex partners. In 1991, 43% had multiple sexual partners, and in 2011, 25% or about half have had multiple sexual partners. The risky-sex gap between White and Black high schoolers has been narrowed. And Hispanic teens are between two riskiest and their risk has not changed.
3. Overall about 13% of high school students have ever been tested for HIV, but Black students are more likely, at 24% to have been tested.

These are three positive signs that Black teens are beginning to get the message. But, this picture is not all perfect, because Black teens and condom usages are beginning to drop.

Black teenagers are using condoms less frequently than they were 10 years ago. A new study conducted by the CDC  that condom use for black teenagers increased by 22% between 1991 and 1999. Then fell back by 4.7% from 1999-2011. Still t 65%, black teens are using condoms more frequently than their peers of other races. White and Latino students condom usages has stagnated just below 60%... 

So my take home point from this is to keep encouraging our youth to use condoms, to decrease the rates of teen pregnancy, STD's, and HIV, and to also increase the rates of condom usages amongst the Black population. 

Written By; LaToya Rippy