Peoria County hosts community meetings on reproductive health

Members of the Department of Health in Peoria County, Illinois, along with local community leaders, recently held two meetings to address the growing number of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among the region's youth, according to a recent article published in the Journal Star.

The news provider stated that adolescent parents are 40 percent less likely to graduate from high school and have a 64 percent increased risk of living in poverty, compared to their peers.

"Children having children without the skills, resources or maturity to properly raise a child leads to the next generation of teen parents, and it is no secret that children who are not raised in a stable, solid family environment are much more likely to wind up in the criminal justice system," Police Chief Steven Settingsgaard told the newspaper.

The health officials explained to the news source that the increasing prevalence of chlamydia and gonorrhea among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 has led to more tax dollars being allocated to the treatment of these infections for underprivileged individuals.

People in this age demographic account for nearly half of the 19 million new STD cases reported annually in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.