From the e-newsletter of Positively Aware -
In the July 22 Kaiser Family Foundation HIV/AIDS Report, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported findings from the CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“Mississippi is among the top states in the nation in the spread of HIV and AIDS among pre-teens to young adults, as well as pregnancies in the same age groups," according to the CDC. The report found that the rate of young adults age 20 to 24 living with HIV/AIDS was 33.9 cases per 100,000 people, the eighth highest rate in the nation for this age group.
Mary Currier, the state epidemiologist, said the findings indicate that the state's abstinence-only approach to sex education is ineffective. According to the Clarion-Ledger, "Earlier this year, an attempt to establish a pilot sex-education program in a limited number of schools passed the Mississippi House but died in the Senate without a vote. The bill would have required the program to report its successes or failures in a 2012 report to the Legislature." State Rep. Alyce Clarke (D), who authored the bill, said she will try again to get the bill passed.
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