Distribution of Condoms in Public Schools

Write a 750-1,000-word essay on one of the issues included below. Remember to gear the essay towards one of the audiences also included below. In addition, use two of the writing techniques we learned in the class: narration, description, definition, or compare and contrast in your essay. Refer to the APA handout posted under Week Six for how to craft it APA format: Title Page and Page number. Students will support their work with 2-3 resources.

Issues: Medicare Reform, distribution of condoms in public schools, school prayer, bilingual education, recycling, sexual education, legalization of recreational drugs.
Audiences: Suburban residents, retired school teachers, small business owners, an organization of minority police officers, urban healthcare providers

 

Sample Paper

Distribution of Condoms in Public Schools

 

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Distribution of Condoms in Public Schools

The government and other healthcare stakeholders have been engaged in a heated debate on whether it is morally right to distribute condoms in public schools across the country. As one of the critical stakeholders on matters, urban healthcare providers ought to be at par in terms of knowledge on the subject matter and why the idea is being pushed across. For starters, the distribution of condoms in public schools is a government program aiming to avail quality and free condoms to all students in public schools. The programs have been running since the 1990s when the center for disease control (CDC) warned the government of the increasing number of HIV and STDs among school-going children. Besides, the country was also losing many young girls to early and unwanted pregnancies. Therefore, it prompted the State governments, in association with the federal government, to create a program to distribute condoms to public schools to curb the menace.

Comparing the pre and post-CAP exercises can help urban healthcare providers understand the importance of the program. The urge to do this has been necessitated by the unending debate about whether the health care benefits of the exercise outweigh the morality and ethical questions arising from the practice. Unlike common belief, research has shown that the CAPS program does not increase sexual activity among high school students (Algur, Wang, Friedman & Deperthes, 2019). Instead, it teaches high school students safe sexual activities, among them the use of condoms, especially the sexually active students and students at high risk. Regarding sexual activity among high school students in the USA, the CDC indicates a steady decline between 1991 and 2017. In 1991, the prevalence rate of adolescent sex was 54.1%, declining to 47.8% in 2007 and 39.5% in 2017, which refutes the argument that CAPS has increased sexual activity among high school students (Dosomething.org, 2019). Before 1990, the US recorded an average of 55.3% sexual activity prevalence among high school students (Dosomething.org, 2019). With increasing abstinence levels among high school students in the country, it is safe to argue that the CAPS programs are the way to go.

Further, the free condom distribution program to public schools has improved many students’ performance compared to before. For instance, Algur et al., (2019) states that initially, teachers would spend a lot of time advising students on safe sexual practices such as abstinence or sticking to a single partner as they risked infections or early pregnancies. Further, the teachers were heavily involved in the therapy sessions of the victims of HIV and STDs disease or pregnancies. Such sessions would consume a lot of time meant for classroom learning, which was a disadvantage to the rest of the class and the school in general. Nevertheless, after condoms were freely distributed to public schools, teachers had less to worry about the sexual choices of the students. All they had to care about was whether the students were adequately using the condoms. Compared to before, enlightening the students on safe ways to use condoms costs less time, hence affording the teacher more time to concentrate on teaching. Also, there are relatively lower cases of infections and pregnancies after the introduction of condom programs in public schools, meaning the teachers engage in fewer therapy sessions taking care of the victims.

To the nurses, introducing condom programs in public schools makes their work easier and more effective. For instance, without the condom program, more students would be infected, and more early pregnancies would be recorded (Algur et al., 2019). The implication is more work for the nurses, and sometimes the work would be risky such as delivering babies from underage and inexperienced mothers who maybe have avoided the clinic for fear of being castigated. Also, the students infected are hard to manage as a nurse since they adhere to doctor’s prescription on drug use and other factors that can contribute to their healing process, such as engaging in risky sexual behavior while an HIV victim. On the other hand, with the condom programs running, there are few HIV and STD infections and pregnancies, implying that the nurses are handling a relatively minor number of underage mothers who are victims of HIV and STDs (Algur et al., 2019). The low number of underage infections and pregnancies implies minimal problems for nurses as they try to follow up on medicine consumption and risky behaviors that would worsen the health of the victims, such as risky sexual behaviors for people living with HIV.

In conclusion, the economy has also benefited from condom programs for public schools. Initially, the government was spending a lot of resources taking care of infected and pregnant school-going kids since they could not afford medical care. Further, the government is obligated to provide care for all without discrimination. With careless behaviors, the connections and pregnancies among the school-going kids were swelling, exerting pressure on the government to provide care and other services. However, post-condom for public school programs, the situation has changed as the country records fewer infections and pregnancies, implying a low number of individuals who demand public utility, yet they are not working. In effect, the resources meant for caring for such individuals have been channeled elsewhere within the economy to spur growth and development for the overall benefit of the entire country.

 

 

References

Algur, E., Wang, E., Friedman, H. S., & Deperthes, B. (2019). A systematic global review of condom availability programs in high schools. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(3), 292-304.

Dosomething.org (2019). 11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy. Vounteer for Social Change. www.dosomething.org. Retrieved February 12, 2023. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-teen-pregnancy