More Health visits HOPE classes to discuss sexual health 

A representative from More Health visited Dec. 3 to discuss sexual health with HOPE classes.   

Hillsborough is one of 15 counties that has adopted a health policy that includes a comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education curriculum, according to the Florida Department of Education.  

Although it is abstinence-based, the curriculum includes discussion of prevention methods but focuses on promoting abstinence as the only complete guarantee to avoid STDs and pregnancy.   

According to More Health representative Jeanne Rowe, the safest form of sex involves dual protection, typically in the form of a condom and birth control.   

“What I think happens is if parent hears ‘safe sex’, and I know I’ve felt the same way as a parent, what they think is we’re saying it’s okay, and that’s not what we’re saying,” Rowe, who has been working at More Health for 17 years, said. “We’re saying abstinence is the only 100 percent guarantee but if someone is not gonna wait, then we need to look at safe sex.”   

According to HOPE instructor and sex education county committee member Carrie Mahon said that Hillsborough county has the highest increasing number of HIV cases statewide.   

“So that’s a little bit alarming,” Mahon said. “It’s one of those deals where I think most teenagers feel like it’s a subcategory that won’t affect them, but actually teenagers that are contracting HIV is really on the rise.”  

Among teens, the most common STD is chlamydia, which causes infertility but is curable with an antibiotic.  70 percent of people with chlamydia don’t experience any symptoms, Rowe said.  

“Someone that has sexual activity, they need to be tested once a year because they might not have symptoms,” Rowe said. “It’s very possible they could have an STD if they’ve been sexually active.”