Geographic Mapping Demonstrates the Association Between Social Inequality, Teen Births and STDs Among Youth

ABSTRACT: This paper uses geographic mapping to illustrate the distributions of social inequality, teen births, and sexually transmitted disease (STD) among 15- to 24-year-olds in Toronto. The incidence rates for teen births and for chlamydia and gonorrhea among 15- to 24-year-olds are much higher in Toronto than in the province of Ontario as a whole. There is a public health requirement to lower these rates. Risk conditions associated with poverty, teen births and STDs also provide challenges to public health program planners. This study documents the need for geographically targeted public health programs to reduce the incidence of births to 15- to 19-year-oil's and of chlamydia and gonorrhea among 15- to 24-year-olds. It also demonstrates the association between these indicators and social inequality. Maps highlighting census tracts with high numbers of low-income families, teen births, genital chlamydia and gonorrhea among 15 to 24-year-olds are used to illustrate these associations. live suggest that the maps, along with local community knowledge, provide the basis for geographically targeted, evidence-based sexual health program planning. (abstract from the article)

Publication Date: 
2000
Volume: 
2008
Issue: 
18.02.2008
Journal Name: 
The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality