The Adolescent Health Project was established by the Women’s Fund of Omaha in collaboration with some of its key not for profit funders and program providers.
Brenda Council, Adolescent Health Coordinator, says the purpose of the project is to address the continuing issues of high STD rates among adolescents ages 15-24 and racial and ethnic disparities in teen pregnancy rates in Omaha and Douglas County.
Council says these are problems that go back almost 15 years so the Omaha Women’s Fund wanted to address these issues with a community-wide sustainable approach.
She says the project is grounded in research.
"Her research first identified best practices that have been implemented in communities across the country who have been dealing with high STD rates or high teen pregnancy rates, what programming was and was not available here for youth around STD and pregnancy prevention and then conducted interviews to really find out what the youth themselves in this community really know, understand and think about STDs and teen pregnancy.”
The research was principally conducted by Dr. Melissa Tibbits of UNMC’s College of Public Health.
Council says priorities of the project include increasing access to long-acting reversible contraception and building capacity for STD testing and treatment among clinical providers.