San Francisco health officials are starting a new program to get sex education advice to young people by sending them text messages.
The city's Department of Public Health began a program this week -- the first of its kind in the United States -- offering automated sex education and health advice to people via their cell phones.
All someone has to do is send a text message with "sexinfo" in the message to two phone numbers set up within the health department.
The text message generates an automatic reply, prompting people to choose from a variety of topic options ranging from peer pressure to broken condoms.
The text conversation usually ends with solutions, including a phone number to call and location and hours of area health clinics.
"A lot of teenagers don't go to clinics, they're afraid to ask questions," said 22-year-old Michelle Irving, a peer educator with the city health department.
She said this gives people, especially within the programs 12-to-24 target age range, a more private option for seeking help or advice.
The program, modeled after one in London, will cost San Francisco about $2,500 a month to run.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Study finds gender differences related to eating and body image
Researchers have discovered a subtle new difference between men and women – this one occurring in the realm of eating.
Future of biology rests in harnessing data avalanche
(PhysOrg.com) -- Like most sciences, biology is inundated with data. However, a group of researchers warns in a
Nature feature that the avalanche of biological information is at the point where the discipline may be unable to reach its full potential without improvements for curating data into on-line databases. The commentary appears in the September 4, issue of the journal and outlines specific remedies to harness the information overload.
Microsoft releases beta version of Internet Explorer 8
Microsoft last week released a broadly available test version of its latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8, including a tool to cover one's tracks across the Web.
Baby's smell tamps down dad's testosterone levels
Does eau de infant make dad a better parent? It does, it seems, if you are a common marmoset, a New World monkey known for its collaborative approach to rearing offspring.
1 in 2 adults at risk for painful knee arthritis
A landmark government study suggests nearly one in two people (46%) will develop painful knee osteoarthritis over their lifetime, with the highest risk among those who are obese. According to the Arthritis Foundation, the study underscores the immediate need for the public to understand what they can do to reduce the tremendous pain, disability and cost associated with arthritis.
Nearly half of US adults will develop painful knee osteoarthritis by age 85: study
Almost half of all U.S. adults and nearly two-thirds of obese adults will develop painful osteoarthritis of the knee by age 85, a study based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests.
Millions face undiagnosed heart risk say researchers after mass screening
One in three people with a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) over the next 10 years have not been diagnosed, according to a major UK study in the September issue of IJCP, the
International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Most vaccine-allergic children can still be safely vaccinated, experts say
With close monitoring and a few standard precautions, nearly all children with known or suspected vaccine allergies can be safely immunized, according to a team of vaccine safety experts led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Writing in the September issue of
Pediatrics, the multicenter research team offers pediatricians a step-by-step tool for quickly identifying children with allergic reactions to vaccines, and a much-needed guide, they say, to safely immunize those who are allergic.