By Jody Gan, MPH, CHES | October 4, 2018
Instructor, Department of Health Studies, American University

Three years ago, I became the first health educator to join a volunteer brigade providing medical and public health services to Honduras. For two decades, the Organization for Community Health Outreach (OCHO), based in Baltimore, Maryland, has sent a 40-person medical team to Atima, in the province of Santa Barbara. This is a mountain community of about 16,000 people in one of the most underserved and remote areas of the country.

By Lori A. Rolleri, MSW, MPH | October 24, 2017
Principal, Lori Rolleri Consulting

Gender norms have a deep impact at all levels of our society and culture. In Part 1 of this post, I talked about some of the ways inequitable gender norms can negatively affect health behaviors and outcomes. In this post, I’d like to take a look at how we can use evidence-informed strategies to change that. How do we address harmful gender norms in curricula designed to prevent adolescent pregnancy and STIs?

By Lori A. Rolleri, MSW, MPH | October 11, 2017
Principal, Lori Rolleri Consulting

Are you one of those people who likes to sit in a park and people-watch? Me too. I like to think about why people do what they do. I’m fortunate that I have a career that actually pays me to do this—although not just by sitting on a park bench!

My people-watching is the type that involves talking with people, reading professional journals and researching the reasons why people do or don’t engage in certain health behaviors.

By Nicole Levitz, MPH | August 3, 2017
Associate Director of Digital Health Education, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

“Meet people where they are.”

As sex educators we spend an enormous amount of time talking about this concept. It might mean starting with the basics, but it also means bringing interventions to folks, not just expecting them to come to us. That’s why Planned Parenthood developed and evaluated Chat/Text.

By Diana Andrews | June 27, 2017
PREP Program Manager, Garfield County PREP

I thought the really hard work had already been done. Three years ago, when I became the PREP Program Manager for Garfield County, Colorado, my predecessor had already gotten so many things accomplished. As impressive as her achievements were, however, it turns out that may have been the easy part!

By Shaunae Motley | June 20, 2017
Director of Programs, Quest for Change

Every May, our communities mark National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. It’s a fine opportunity to reflect on the difference prevention work makes in the lives of young people. Since peaking in 1991, teen births have dropped 64%. This historic decline includes significant progress in all 50 states and among all racial and ethnic groups.

However, despite these advances, disparities continue to exist—by age, race and ethnicity, geography and among youth from low-income families. 

By Mandy Ackerman, LMSW, MPH & Jenifer DeAtley, LMSW | June 14, 2017
Senior Program Coordinator & Director of U.S. Programs, EngenderHealth

Here’s a story that gives us chills—the good kind. A group of our peer educators presented a plenary at a local conference. They shared their personal stories before an audience of about 100 youth-serving professionals from the Central Texas community.

These peer educators are all young mothers. 

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | April 7, 2017

Teen pregnancy rates are down. A wide range of statistics and figures show this. If you work in the field of adolescent health, you’ve certainly already heard this news.

Think for a moment about how you hold that information in your mind. Perhaps you remember the rate of births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years. You might think about a national map that shows state rankings in teen birth rates. Maybe colorful bar graphs or pie charts come to mind.