STDs

Last week the porn industry voluntarily shut down production on movie sets around the country after an unnamed actress initially tested positive for HIV. While it turned out to be a false positive, the incident exposed the ongoing controversy around industry handling of the possibility of spreading infections on set. 

Activists opposed to male circumcision hope that someday cutting a boy's foreskin will be a federal crime. In the meantime, they're working to ban the procedure in two California cities.

Along with the excellent “Daddy, I Do,” this film is part of a new generation of documentaries which looks at America’s dysfunctional relationship with teen sexuality.

STD Awareness Month (SAM) is important because of the potential harm of untreated STDs, including adverse pregnancy outcomes, infertility, cancers of the reproductive tract, and increased likelihood of HIV transmission.

Across the United States and worldwide, MSM continue to be a group disproportionately affected by STDs and HIV, but we still need better data and better tools to guide prevention efforts.

When it comes to young people and sexual health, Philadelphia has much to brag about, but also has an uphill struggle.

On the horizon is a greater integration of services and population level outcomes with health rather than individual disease case numbers as the sole measure of success or failure.  And syphilis reminds us of why this is so utterly necessary. 

As an African-American female who has worked in public health for 20 years I am a little exhausted of the slow progress that the United States has made concerning health equity for minority populations.

We have a problem recognizing sex as a natural aspect of human nature, and with talking about safe, healthy sexual choices.  We need to fix it.