Sex Education in the City

New York City will once again mandate sex education in public schools starting in the spring semester. It is not a moment too soon.

One of every four girls in the country between the ages of 15 and 19 has had a sexually transmitted infection, and 50 percent of black girls in that age group. In the city, teenagers account for one in four of all sexually transmitted infections. And while HIV diagnoses are going down in the city overall, they are going up among young men who have sex with men, especially blacks and Latinos according to Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. The department estimates that 4,000 people a year are becoming infected with HIV in New York.

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