Data in our County Map details teen pregnancy, sexual health, school health policies, and organizations that support adolescent sexual health.

Teen Pregnancy Data

Teen pregnancy data comes from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics. Our County Map and Statewide Data include teen pregnancy numbers, rates, county rankings, and change from last year.

Teen pregnancy rates are expressed in the number of pregnancies per 1,000 15-19-year-old girls. Rates are calculated each year in the following way:

(Number of Births + Number of Abortions + Number of Fetal Deaths)/Population

Teen pregnancy rates are especially helpful in prevention work because they provide an apples-to-apples comparison, even when population numbers change or when comparing counties of different sizes.

Sexual Health

Currently we only provide numbers on Chlamydia and Gonorrhea for all ages. At this time, rates/numbers by age group are not available by county.

While people of all ages are susceptible to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are most commonly found in adolescents. Therefore, they are powerful indicators of adolescent sexual health in a community.

School Health Policy

While many school policies affect student health, two most directly affect adolescent sexual health. The Healthy Youth Act and School Violence Prevention Act – both passed in 2009 – address sex education and student safety in North Carolina schools.

Because both laws require local school boards to administer their implementation at the local level, our County Map provides links to each school system’s policy, when available.

Organizations That Support Adolescent Sexual Health

Our growing list of organizations that support adolescent sexual health is intended to help families and young people connect with organizations that can support healthy development.

Organizations included on the list should meet the following criteria:

• They provide evidence-based or comprehensive sex education programs

OR

• They maintain an active policy of referring participants to comprehensive sexual health care and/or information as part of a youth development or support program

Please use the Update Your County Profile tool if you would like to add an organization or if you feel we have made an error in including an organization.

Clinic Locator

Our Clinic Locator tool is powered by Bedsider, a project of Power to Decide.  Bedsider’s search engine for clinics provides access to a vetted list of clinics that provide access to sexual health care, including birth control and STI/HIV tests. Visit Bedsider to learn more or to add a clinic to their search engine.