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Adolescent & School Health Basics
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About Adolescent & School Health

Preventable health risk behaviors are often established during adolescence and continue into adulthood. Helping adolescents make healthy choices requires the involvement of families, communities, and many other sectors of society—schools are an essential part of that effort. Just as schools are critical to preparing students academically and socially, they are also vital partners in helping young people take responsibility for their health and adopt health-enhancing attitudes and behaviors that can last a lifetime.

Schools have an opportunity to dramatically improve the health and well-being of their students each day—including playing an important role in HIV, STD, and pregnancy prevention. Research shows that well-designed, well-implemented, school-based HIV/STD prevention programs can significantly reduce sexual risk behaviors among students. CDC recognizes that schools provide an opportunity to support prevention efforts and programs across the country.

For more information on Adolescent and School Health, visit CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health homepage.

To learn more about youth sexual risk behaviors, visit CDC’s Sexual Risk Behaviors page.