creasing educational attainment, career opportunities, and financial stability (Healthy People 2020, 2014). As spokeswoman XXXX4 mentioned, being educated on sexual health can eliminate and reduce the probability of being infected with the diseases. The relationship between sexual health and the leading health indicators will help improve the sexual health of young adults and the U.S. population.

Sexual health is a very important topic that it seems like nobody wants to talk about. I’m pretty sure if you asked a group of teenagers have they ever contracted a Sexually transmitted disease (STD) most of all of them would say no. The most common STD’s are Human Papillomavirus infection (HPV) which is an infection that causes warts in various parts of the body depending on the strain. Another common STD is Genital Herpes which is an infection accompanied by genital pain and open sores. Chlamydia is another disease which is another infection but may not cause any symptoms. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection that, if untreated, may cause infertility in young adults mainly women. The one most talked about is HIV/AIDS HIV leads to a severe stage of AIDS and interferes with the body’s capability to attack infections. The last of the most common STD’s is Syphilis is another cause of bacterial infection that usually spread by sexual contact that starts as a painless sore. A sexually activity study shown on KFF.org which was conducted in 2013 shows that Nearly half (47%) of all high school students report ever having had sexual intercourse in 2013, a decline from 54% in 1991. A similar share of male and female students report ever having had sex (48% vs. 46%). (Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). The study also shows that there are racial and ethnic differences in sexual activity rates. Black high school students are more likely to have had intercourse (60%) compared to White (44%) and Hispanic students (49%). A higher share of Black high school students (14%) and Hispanic students (6%) initiated sex before age 13 compared to White students (3%) (Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014).

The racial study could easily be explained, that sexual health like other things aren’t taught in black communities or schools. With sex being shown all over TV and in everyday music it’s not rare that young adults are having sex, the problem is are these young men and women have safe sex. Safe sex meaning condoms for men and women and birth control. With classes like personal health and safety and sex ed. being taken out of schools those diseases with me stated earlier could be a shock to young men and women. The same study shows that Teens ages 15 to 19 and young adults ages 20 to 24 accounted for the most reported cases of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in 2012. Females are at greater risk than men of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, and the consequences include pelvic inflammatory disease, pregnancy complications, and infertility