Several factors contribute to these trends. Abstinence, declining condom use among young people, disruptions in routine care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent stigma around sexual health have all played a role. Limited access to affordable testing and treatment services further widens the gap, especially in underserved communities. Adding to the concern, gonorrhea has developed growing resistance to antibiotics, complicating treatment efforts.

The impact of untreated STIs can be severe. Beyond the immediate infection, they can lead to infertility, pregnancy complications, chronic pain, and increased vulnerability to HIV. Congenital syphilis, which is transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, has risen sharply in recent years, with tragic outcomes for infants and families.

Reversing this trend requires a renewed public health response. Expanding access to sexual health services, ensuring regular testing and early treatment, and strengthening public education around safe practices are all essential. Efforts to destigmatize STIs and promote open conversations about sexual health will also play a key role.

The rise in STI rates is a warning sign but also an opportunity to build stronger, more equitable health systems. With prevention, early care, and community awareness, these infections are both manageable and, in many cases, entirely preventable.

Image(s) by Hans from Pixabay

• Image Credit: NIH- National Institute of Mental Health

Did You Know?

• 9% of the U.S. population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.
• 10,200 deaths each year are the direct result of an eating disorder – that’s one death every 52 minutes.
• Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as “underweight.”
• ~Credit: Eating Recovery Center

Know the facts, signs, and symptoms of eating disorders and provide your loved ones with the needed resources to develop healthy lifestyle.

Featured image credit: Nutley Family Service Bureau

Did You Know?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 7 adolescents live with a mental health condition. “Without adequate support, these conditions can have long-lasting effects on their education, relationships, and overall well-being”. ~WHO

It is important to adequately understand these conditions, the signs, and symptoms in order to properly support those affected.

Featured Image (s) credit: Mohamed_hassan from Pixabay

Calling on the world to wake up and smell the coffee! We have a global epidemic on our hands and it seems we are not doing enough to protect and prevent our teenagers and young adults from committing suicide due to depression and other mental health disorders. Lately, my heart is full of sadness because of similar stories of young people in different parts of the world taking their lives for reasons such as exam failures, rape, parents neglect, bullying etc. These stories are heart breaking events that call for the development and implementation of effective community-based interventions that will prevent children of the world, family members, friends, and neighbors from being part of the statistics.

The stories show the trend and the increase in rates of suicide among young people. For instance, in an article published by Time magazine, “In 2017—the latest year for which federal data are available—more than one in eight Americans ages 12 to 25 experienced a major depressive episode”. While there is no known exact cause for the increase in the suicide rates, Time magazine noted that some evidence linked ‘heavy technology use and poor mental health outcomes’ among young people. That is, “the ever growing use of technology, digital media like social media, texting and gaming” have been linked to suicide among young people.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), “Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multi-sectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.”

 Also, WHO indicated that “Effective and evidence-based interventions can be implemented at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts.”

Here are some heart wrenching stories from the news that can help put things into perspectives:

The recent case (April 2019) of twenty 12^th grade students who committed suicide in the India state of Telangana due to failing their final exams. To make matters worse, the exam results were controversial with alleged instances of incorrect exam grading and recording absent or zero for students who were actually present for the exam.

Another recent case (March 2019) is that of Uzakah Ebiweni, a 300-level medical student in Nigeria who committed suicide (through drowning) after being disqualified from medical school for failing to pass the qualifying professional exams. Similar case in Nigeria is that of a 17-year-old boy, Amos Ibrahim who took his own life by consuming insecticide. The young man reportedly committed suicide due to depression after failing the 2019 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Exams (University entrance exam).

“An 11-year-old Haverhill girl Precious Wallaces was allegedly drugged and raped by her great-uncle, Miguel Rivera, who watched over her every Friday night. Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, and amitriptyline, an anti-depressant and sleep aid, were found in her system. After spending two days in a coma, Precious died”.

My take is that, in these cases: the corrupt system, the high expectations placed on these children and the enormous pressure, the high level of stress, the constant bullying, and lack of family support among others probably triggered depression or some sort of mental breakdown resulting in the loss of these young lives to suicide.

These stories showcase the need for parents, relatives and the community as a whole to be part of our children and loved one’s daily activities. The need to have an ‘open door’ policy in our homes and a conversational environment where kids can feel safe to discuss social and personal issues is urgent. We owe it to ourselves to balance work and family life because it is our ultimate responsibility to be attuned to the needs of our children, friends, and loved ones.

How can we help? Or do you have a story you would like to share? Send us a message info@publichealthtalks.com

Some facts according to the World Health Organization

• Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds.
• Suicide is a global phenomenon and occurs throughout the lifespan
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds.
• 79% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries.
• Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally.

Healthychildren.org stated 10 Things Parents Can Do to Prevent Suicide

• Don’t let your teen’s depression or anxiety snowball
• Listen—even when your teen is not talking
• Never shrug off threats of suicide as typical teenage melodrama
• Seek professional help right away
• Share your feelings
• Encourage your teen not to isolate himself or herself from family and friends
• Recommend exercise
• Urge your teen not to demand too much of himself or herself
• Remind your teen who is undergoing treatment not to expect immediate results.
• If you keep guns at home, store them safely or move all firearms elsewhere until the crisis has passed.

Having spent my early years in West Africa-Nigeria, it is evident to me that in that part of the world, it is a taboo to talk about teen pregnancy or God forbid mention the word ‘sex’ in the open. Such incident are kept hush hush and most of the time young girls don’t have the right tools and resources to deal with pregnancy prevention. For instance, I can recall vividly in middle school that some of my friends dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies and were not able finish high school with us. For the most part, these pregnant young girls were accused of being ‘promiscuous’, blamed for being raped and sexually assaulted and in some instances, isolated and shunned by their communities. I remember, thinking to myself, how did that happen? How could these smart girls engage in sexual activities at such a young age? Why are the boys not being blamed but protected by the society (that’s another topic on its own)? So many questions but little answers because no one was talking. I promise, I was not judging but just confused and curious about everything at the time.

Fast forward, I ran into couple of these girls not long ago and they shared their stories of how difficult their life journey has been and the silver lining in their life stories. Some of the discussions include working extra hard to care for the child due to lack of formal education, dealing with the stigma of being pregnant at an early age and being single teenage moms etc. I couldn’t help but to ask one of my many questions which was “Why did you engage in sexual activities at such an early age” I mean “why did you do it”? I gathered that there were many factors that led to ‘doing it’ including lack of family support to social acceptance, lack of dialogue, absent parents etc. Also, it occurred to me that couple of the pregnancies happened as a result of being raped by family members. It infuriates me to know that, none of the perpetrators were held accountable and they got away with such a horrible crime. How is it okay to protect the perpetrators and blame the victims? Unfortunately, in Nigeria and many other parts of the world ‘rape culture’ is well and alive. For instance: “Approximately 15 million adolescent girls (aged 15 to 19) worldwide have experienced forced sex (forced sexual intercourse or other sexual acts) at some point in their life” (UN Women).

Now the burning question for me is, “When is the appropriate age to have young girls on birth control”? After all, “Approximately 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and 2.5 million girls under 16 years give birth each year in developing regions” (United Nations Population Funds). Call me old school, but the idea of having girls as young as 11yrs on birth control freaks me out! Gosh!!! It does! Clearly, it is something that has to be done. It is worth noting that sometimes teenagers are prescribed birth control pills for reasons other than pregnancy prevention, e.g. PCOS, acne, severe menstrual cramps etc. I think parents will be in the best position to know and decide when the right time is because prevention is better than cure. That is, it is better to prevent future headaches from happening by nipping it in the bud.

Bottom line is that everyone has a role to play in reducing and/or preventing teenage/adolescent pregnancy including parents, educators, public health and medical professionals, and community organizations

 Remember, as is my mantra on parenting, one size does not always fit all! Always find the right formula that works for your family and be persistent and consistent!

Some strategies for reducing and preventing teen-adolescents pregnancy

• Teach kids comprehensive sex education
• Target messages at teen boys, not just at the girls.
• Get the whole community involved
• Make condoms widely available
• Encourage mentoring i.e.younger teens can benefit from ‘sex talk’ through mentorship from older teens (Source: thinkprogress.org)