STD numbers should alarm county residents

Community

August 24, 2012

STD numbers should alarm county residents

FOR THE DAILY SOUTHERNER FOR THE DAILY SOUTHERNER The Daily Southerner Fri Aug 24, 2012, 04:28 PM EDT

TARBORO — The front page of Thursday’s edition of this newspaper had some good news on it ... Amanda Evans was named Edgecombe County’s “Teacher of the Year,” the Tarboro Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue team drilled in order to be ready to go when needed, more funding was made available to develop Shiloh Landing and the Town of Pinetops developed a unique plan to get an extra police officer on the streets.

But there was terribly disturbing news, as well.

Edgecombe County is the No. 1 county in the state for the reported occurrence of HIV, and, while we dropped to No. 13 in regards to reported instances of syphilis, the occurrences of chlamydia and gonorrhea both increased by 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively, over the previous year.

But the most disturbing news of all was the fact STD’s were reported in two children under the age of 5.

While the occurrence of the STDs are more prevelant in one race than another, this is not a racial issue ... it is a social issue and it is about the decline in the morality of our community.

We can sit here and be critical of the problems in Rocky Mount or other communities all day long, but it is difficult for one to be taken seriously when you find yourself in a glass house with a rock storm under way.

There is no easy solution to a problem such as our burgeoning number of sexually transmitted diseases, but it is something that affects each and every one of us, infected or not.

While health department and social services officials are working on these issues, the community as a whole needs to enter into the discussion — from the supper table to the pulpit — in order to help regain control of the situation.

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Community

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