Best of NCFY 2011: Teen Pregnancy Prevention Series
This month, we’re highlighting the best NCFY Web content of the past year.
Preventing teen pregnancy is a priority of the federal government, with several new programs launched last year by the Department of Health and Human Services. So in May, NCFY devoted an issue of its online magazine for youth workers, The Exchange, to teen pregnancy prevention.
We looked at approaches that have been shown to reduce teen pregnancy, ways to involve young men in the effort, and programs that work with teen moms to keep them from getting pregnant again. The issue won a MarCom Award, which honors excellence in communication.
Teen pregnancy prevention was in the news again last month when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the U.S. teen birth rate declined 9 percent in 2010, hitting the lowest level ever reported.
Observers say teens today are choosing to have less sex and use more contraception, and that the combined efforts of parents, teachers, youth workers and teens themselves have made all the difference.
“Not so long ago, teen pregnancy was viewed as intractable and inevitable,” said Sarah Brown, CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, in a statement. “[The CDC] report shows that too early pregnancy and child-bearing are 100 percent preventable.”
That work to prevent teen pregnancy will continue: Despite the progress we’ve made, the United States still has the highest rate of teen pregnancy among developed nations.
Sign up
Follow us
Like us
Sign up for our RSS feeds: 
