Addressing Sexual Health in Indigenous Communities

This chapter presents information on risk factors for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, followed by prevalence data on teen pregnancy, chlamydia, gonorrhea, human-immunodeficiency virus, syphilis, and human papillomavirus (HPV) in American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations. The chapter highlights two community-engaged interventions aimed at increasing vaccination against HPV, one in 18 Great Plains tribal nations and another with Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i. Also highlighted are two programs to increase sexual health knowledge and to reduce teen pregnancy in youth, one sponsored by the Healthy Native Youth Collaborative, which represents 295 tribes in Alaska, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest, and the other in Chuuk, one of four states within the Federated States of Micronesia.