$10M grant targets teen pregnancy
UT Teen Health’s outreach to cover counties in S. Texas
UT Teen Health, an initiative of UT Health San Antonio promoting adolescent health and wellness in South Texas, announced a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to prevent teen pregnancies.
The five-year grant will promote equity through “proven evidence-based programs and positive youth development in school districts, clinics, community-based organizations, houses of worship, detention centers, and group and residential care programs throughout the region,” UT Health said in a news release.
Teen pregnancy rates are higher in the heavily rural 38county service area. It includes the lower Rio Grande Valley, which suffers from economic and health inequities.
The initiative launched activities this week and aims to coordinate outreach in the region, particularly in counties with limited resources and access to health services. A leadership team of school administrators, youth-serving organizations, parents and community members will conduct needs assessments in each community to identify clinics and services available and link families to them.
“These programs will promote youth-centered, medically accurate, high-quality programming and services that improve health outcomes and promote optimal health for youth ages 10-24, using a sustainable model to train facilitators to reach 16,000 youth annually,” said Dr. Kristen Plastino, director of UT Teen Health.
The initiative’s first-year funding of almost $2 million is a portion of $68.5 million in federal funds to be distributed to 53 organizations in 29 states and Puerto Rico for teen pregnancy-prevention programs during the next year. UT Teen Health will receive $9.86 million over the five years of the program.
Efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes and promote positive youth development “is a cornerstone of supporting adolescent health and well-being,” said Dr. Rachel L. Levine, assistant secretary for health with HHS and the head of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program provides needed resources to replicate programs that have been proven effective, she said.
Created under the Obama administration, it was reduced during the Trump administration, which affected funding at UT Teen Health, the Expressnews reported in 2017.
Nationally, the teen birth rate — 13.9 births per 1,000 females
ages 15 to 19 — has fallen 78 percent since it peaked in 1991, but it contains stark racial differences.
According to UT Health, teen birth rates among Hispanic and non-hispanic Black teens are about 21.8 births per 1,000 — more than twice the 9.4 births per 1,000 of non-hispanic white teens.
South Texas, with a population that’s 69 percent Hispanic, includes 33 counties whose teen births are above the national rate and 24 that are far higher — up to 56.8 births per 1,000 female teens, four times the national rate.
UT Teen Health will focus services in those rural counties, working to strengthen family communications through community programs and education.
Youth will have a voice in the program through the Youth Leadership Council, which will provide input.