The reason for the increase in number of teenagers falling prey to STDs lies mostly in the fact that only 50% of teenagers remain virgins before they reach the age of 17.
This coincides with the increasing rates of teenage pregnancy which is at about one million girls who are below 20 every year.
This is partly because of increases in the instances of teen rape and also because of the rising promiscuity among teenagers.
Apart from that, most teenagers often do not know they are suffering from STDs because there are certain diseases that show no symptoms.
There is no way of figuring out that they have it unless they go and get tested.
Because they do not know that they carry an STD and they do not get treated for it, they continue to pass it on to other teenagers that they have sex with.
Most teenagers will only really know about an STD if they have been diagnosed with it.
HIV/AIDS is an exception because of the increasing efforts in promoting awareness of it.
But the fact is that there is a greater chance for these teenagers to contract other STDs compared to AIDS and that is why they need to be informed of the others that they can be infected with as well.
This is a pressing situation since some STDs can have severe consequences if left untreated.
There is no cure for genital herpes, for instance.
Also, genital warts can open more doors for cervical cancer.
When Chlamydia is untreated, it can lead to infertility.
These are all serious consequences that teenagers, especially women, should be made familiar with because these seemingly unimportant choices that they choose to make in their teenage years can greatly impact the quality of their lives in the coming years.