Feb. 14 is Valentine's Day, a holiday full of long-stemmed roses, chocolate candies, sugar hearts and people happy to have someone to love. However, Feb. 14 has another important distinction that not many people talk about. It is the start of National Condom Week. This campaign, founded in the late 1970s by David Mayer (CEO of Mayer Laboratories, Inc.) promotes the use of latex condoms in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States.
Studies reported by the Centers for Disease Control show that latex condoms used consistently and correctly among high-risk populations decrease the risk of contracting a STD by as much as 98 to 100 percent. Yet, in 1999 more than 800,000 people in the United States were living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. If someone gets infected with a STD like chlamydia or gonorrhea, they are at a high risk of getting AIDS.
In North Carolina, adolescents and young adults are getting STDs at an alarming rate. This epidemic of STDs demands interventions, perhaps even a war on STDs. Just as national security is a concern for us after the events of Sept. 11, we all must be concerned about preventing STDs for our neighbors and children. In this fight, we have at least one known, safe, successful tool: condoms.
In 1995, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools started a campaign to make high school students more aware of condom use as a prevention of STDs. Students got peer counseling, access to condoms and mentoring about STD prevention. By 1996, the N.C. legislature passed a law stating only abstinence could be discussed in the public school system. Therefore, schools were forced to remove all mention of condoms as a known, successful tool in the prevention of harmful and even deadly diseases.
How has North Carolina done since then in terms of STDs? The South still has higher reported rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis than any other region in the country. In 2000, six out of the top 10 worst rates were in the South, and North Carolina had the 14th worst rate. Data on the rates of gonorrhea in 2000 show that nine out of the top 10 worst states were in the South, and North Carolina had the fifth worst rate in the country. Feb. 14 is a celebration of all kinds of love. Let us take this opportunity on Valentine's Day and the start of National Condom Week to promote safe love for every citizen of North Carolina. Let us be committed to sparking and kindling ways in which STD prevention is being promoted in our state, our counties, our neighborhoods and our schools. Not having sex is the best way of not getting a sexually transmitted disease, but adolescents and young adults must also be empowered by the knowledge of protecting themselves when they are making decisions about their sexual maturity. Happy National Condom week.
Jennifer Pender
Fourth-Year Medical Student
The length rule was waived.
