Freshman year is a big deal. It is the start of high school, the year teenagehood starts to feel like teenagehood. It is also the year that students at my high school – Albany High – take health class. In addition to education on mental health, addiction, and emotional development, the class includes the obligatory sex ed unit.

Of all the things 9th graders look forward to when starting high school, learning about condoms at 9 in the morning is probably not one of them. But alongside biology, algebra, and history, sexual education is one of the most important things teens learn in school – and it is often one of the most overlooked. There are no federal standards for sexual education in public schools, and currently only 37% of states require public school sex ed to be medically accurate. Additionally, 68% of states require abstinence be taught even though it has been proven harmful to adolescents.

These statistics are staggering, and they reflect a larger pattern in health literacy in the United States. According to the National Institute for Health, health literacy is the “degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others”. Health literacy allows individuals to advocate for their own health and the health of their communities, and lower health literacy is associated with worse health outcomes. A 2018 survey found that 36% of American adults – more than a third – had “basic or below basic health literacy”, a statistic that is higher in non-white populations and people with lower socioeconomic status.

Poor health education and standards at the secondary level is one driver of this literacy crisis. However, another newer, even more concerning development in politics is now adding to the health literacy crisis: confusion around health information under the Trump administration. According to the Human Rights Watch, the Department of Health and Human Services is currently “letting politicized and ideological priorities impact the availability of health-related information” by giving inaccurate information a platform, removing or altering online healthcare resources, and slashing advisory committees for and staffing of medical agencies.

Changes in policy can be seen directly by simply visiting federal health information websites – especially those relating to sexual or adolescent health. Some articles from the CDC and other organizations – including this one on health education – have conflicting updates and headers that criticize the information on the site as “extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality” (referring specifically to information on gender diversity).

Conflicting government information, lacking public school education, and divides along race and socio-economic lines can lead to worsened rates of health literacy in the next generation. So where can teens worried about or interested in their own health and the health of others look for accurate information on health and health literacy?

Here are some accurate, authoritative resources:

• American Medical Association (AMA)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
• Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health
• Cleveland Clinic Teen Health Portal
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• Planned Parenthood Learn
• UNESCO – International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education
• World Health Organization (WHO) – Adolescent Health Portal

–Margaret Montag – Healthcare Intern