WASHINGTON (WTVR) – More teenagers in the U.S. are using condoms, according to a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In fact, the CDC reports about 60 percent of sexually active teens in high school reported using a condom. Compared to statistics from 20 years, that is an increase of 14 percent. However, that number is down from a high of 63 percent in 2003.
Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of CDC’s HIV prevention center, told the Associated Press that lack of sexual education in schools could partly explain why those numbers are not higher. Fenton said some districts have had problems integrating HIV and sexual heath into their curriculum.
The CDC survey also found nearly half of teens are sexually active and start having sex on average around 16. However, the same study also found more young people are putting off having sex.
Fenton said that forty percent of new HIV infections take place in people under 30 years old.
Promoting safe sex is one of the key parts of the International AIDS conference, which is under way in Washington.
