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Measuring Up

  

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

Measuring Up
A Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and Youth


Street Youth Project

Sexual and reproductive health problems affect Canadian youth from all backgrounds and socioeconomic levels. However, street youth are at a particularly high risk for these problems. In one study, street youth reported a cumulative incidence of sexually transmitted diseases of 22% - more than twice the rate found in youth in school.(13) Despite this increased risk, information focusing on this population is very limited. To address this issue, the Division of STD Prevention and Control in the Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB is conducting surveillance of street youth in major cities across Canada. In addition to enhanced surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases, the sentinel surveillance program will provide valuable information on the sexual behaviours of Canadian street youth. It is the aim of the program to translate this surveillance information into appropriate and effective disease prevention programs. The success of these interventions can be measured by ongoing surveillance of sexual health and sexual behaviours in this population.

 

References

  1. Health Canada. HIV and AIDS in Canada, surveillance report to December 31, 1998. Division of HIV/AIDS Surveillance, Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB, LCDC, Health Canada, 1998.

  2. Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB, LCDC. Analysis and interpretation of Canadian HIV/AIDS data. 1999.

  3. Benenson AS. Control of communicable diseases manual, 16th edition, 1995. American Public Health Association (ISBN 0-87553-222-5).

  4. Health Canada. Sexually transmitted diseases in Canada: 1996 surveillance report (with preliminary 1997 data), Division of STD Prevention and Control, Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB, LCDC, Health Canada, 1999.

  5. Kreipe RE. Sexually transmitted diseases in adolescents. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1998;17:919-22.

  6. Division of STD prevention. Sexually transmitted disease surveillance. 1997. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services, Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September, 1998.

  7. Hofferth SL. Social and economic consequences of teenage childbearing. In: Hofferth SL, Hayes CD, eds. Risking the future: adolescent sexuality, pregnancy and childbearing. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1987;2:123-44.

  8. Friede A, Baldwin W, Rhodes PH, et al. Young maternal age and infant mortality: the role of low birth weight. Public Health Rep 1987;102:192-9.

  9. Brown HL, Fan YD, Gonsoulin WJ. Obstetric complications in young teenagers. South Med J 1991;84:46-8.

  10. Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, LCDC. Analysis and interpretation of Statistics Canada data. 1999.

  11. Wadhera S, Millar WJ. Teenage pregnancies, 1974 to 1994. Health Reports 1997;9(3):9-17.

  12. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund). (1998). The Progress of Nations 1998. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

  13. Tam R, MacDonald N, Feder S, Giglia L, Peeling R, Gully P, et al. Chlamydia infection in street youth: need for more aggressive screening programs. Can J Infect Dis 1996;7:49-52.

 

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