5 Online Tools That Give Teens the Sex Ed They Need

Research has shown that when young people have their basic needs met and feel positive about their futures, they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. The Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program has reduced pregnancy rates by 40 percent in New York by meeting teens educational, emotional, and employment needs.

Uganda has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Africa, but a unique mobile health clinic is helping to reduce the rates of conception. Marie Stopes’ tuk tuks brings health care, sexual education and contraceptives to women in poor communities.

Disseminating correct HIV information to the public can be difficult but an HIV prevention program for the homeless has used artificial intelligence to select 'influencers' who are more likely to spread information. These individuals help to extend information through their social networks, resulting in more and accurate information reaching the public.

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Clinic is taking a youth centered approach towards teaching reproductive health. Their methods, which include having youth days, hiring youth peer counselors, and providing private rooms for youth to discuss their sexual health, allow them to reach teenagers. “As a result, their uptake of contraception has increased.”

Research, and the evidence from global development campaigns in multiple countries, shows that cash transfers to women can help women to gain more freedom in choosing sexual partners, decrease HIV transmission, and decrease domestic violence. However, the short term cash transfers show proof of short term impact -- for longer term success, greater amounts that allow for greater investment might be necessary.

Uganda’s education ministry requires all schools to have incinerators to burn used sanitary pads. Lack of funding limits schools’ ability to comply. Even when incinerators exist, girls don’t necessarily use them. Educating both girls and boys about menstruation reduces stigma and increases the likelihood that girls feel comfortable enough to collect pads instead of throwing them in pit latrines.

Attitudes towards the legalization of sex work are changing around the world, and now some cities have even started considering public spaces for sex work while developing urban infrastructure plans. From Cologne, Germany (where there are "sex drive-throughs" that are equipped with safety features, facilities for rest, and toilets for the workers) to Amsterdam (where they are developing new rules for window-based sex work), governments are now increasingly inviting sex workers and their representatives to the negotiating table.

To address those that have been specifically impacted by economic crash due to coronavirus and to slow the spread, cities across the United States are enacting comprehensive measures to help. From a halt on all utility shutoffs to releasing inmates who have nearly completed their sentences or are being held pretrial on cash bail, local governments across the nation are looking for ways to address how the pandemic is impacting the most vulnerable.

A business in Panaji is helping to decrease the stigma around sexual health in India by selling products such as condoms and encouraging customers to ask questions. While stigma still persists throughout the region, the store has expanded to two other locations and has seen a varied customer base including "college girls and boys, housewives, people above 50."

Qrate provides menstruation workshops at schools to teach young people about their bodies, good menstruation hygiene, and - importantly - to decrease the stigma, shame, and embarrassment associated with periods. The group presents to both girls and boys in order to address the health of non-binary, transgender, and intersex people who may menstruate, and to engage boys in fighting the stigma. In addition to providing the necessary products, the workshops use fun, child-friendly, lessons. The interactive activities and exercises have been more impactful than simply having someone lecture to students.