Health
African-American Teens More Hip to Safer Sex, Study Finds
African-American Teens Engaging in Less Riskier Sex (Courtesy of BET)
[BET]
When it comes to news about HIV/AIDS in the African-American community, oftentimes it isn’t encouraging. But some recent data released at the International AIDS Conference by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows some signs of hope.
By analyzing data from 1999 to 2011, the CDC found that American teenagers, especially African-American youth, are doing a better job in engaging in safer sex and abstinence in hopes of protecting themselves from contracting HIV. We are engaging in less risky behavior than we were two decades ago. And this is important, given that 40 percent of all new infections in the U.S. occur in people under the age of 30, and that African-Americans account for half of new infections overall each year.
