BY Corinne Lestch
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, November 16 2011:
New research to be announced Thursday contends that, while Bronx teens have the highest pregnancy rates in the city, it’s due to entrenched poverty more than promiscuity.
New York University Professor Vincent Guilamo-Ramos’ report on adolescent reproductive and sexual health disparities shows that 46% of Bronx high school students have sex, equal to the national rate.
Bronx teens are also more likely to use a condom and less likely to consume drugs or alcohol prior to sex, according to the research.
But the borough still has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.
“The Bronx clearly doing worse than a lot of places in NYC often paints a portrait of African-American and Latino young people being more promiscuous,” said Ramos, who grew up near the Grand Concourse.
“Focusing on young people themselves and not thinking about how they’re disadvantaged doesn’t really tell their true story.”
The report says rampant poverty, homelessness, limited access to healthcare and insufficient funding for innovative health programs contribute to the Bronx’s teen pregnancy rate, which is more than 30% higher than the national rate.
Ramos will announce his findings at the Morris Heights Health Center (MHHC).
“The Bronx in relation to the city and the rest of the country is a community that really needs services and funding for programs like this,” said Estelle Raboni, program director of Changing the Odds at MHHC, which offers about 200 students in 12 schools an adolescent health curriculum. “Teen pregnancy doesn’t just affect the father or mother, but also their offspring for generations.”
Ramos said the new city mandate requiring students to take sex education in middle and high school is a step in the right direction, and counts Mayor Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative and The Bronx Knows HIV testing initiative as more progressive, effective ways to combat a pervasive problem.
But the disparities will persist without more prevention outreach for marginalized youth like Genesis Santana, who dropped out of eighth grade when she got pregnant.
Now 18, she’s pregnant with her third child.
“I never went back to school,” Santana said while waiting for the BX21 bus with her 6-month-old son sleeping in a stroller.
“Kids get peer pressured to have sex, and everybody around them is saying ‘if you don’t have sex, you’re not cool,” said Santana. “I don’t know why I don’t use condoms.”
