Speak Out!

Good morning Fly Girls!

I know, I know it’s Christmas break and the last thing you want to do is read anything half way educational due to the fact you’re about to dive into a new semester! But this info is useful & can save your life!

Students who attend certain high schools in Philadelphia will have easier access to condoms.

Due to the high rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections, Condom dispensers have been placed in schools.

The dispensers are located in the nurse’s office, and the condoms are free.

“We believe distributing condoms is part of our obligation to keep  students healthy and to remain healthy,” said school district spokesman  Fernando Gallard.  “The health department has described this as a  continued epidemic of STDs among teenagers in Philadelphia.”

Condoms have in the past been provided to students in Philadelphia as  part of wider program in which the teenagers are provided “free,  voluntary and confidential” testing for sexual diseases in their  schools, Gallard said.

It was the results of those tests that led officials to launch the  current program to distribute condoms regularly in schools instead of  once a year when the tests are administered.

Of the 130,000 student who have received testing in the last five years, some 6,500 or 5 percent of them have tested positive for diseases  including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Parents were made aware of the distribution program in October and were  given the chance to opt their children out of receiving the  prophylactics.

Read more at ABC News.

DO you think it’s a good idea to put condom dispensers in high school? Is it helping or hurting?

Should schools make condoms available?

SPEAK OUT!