Posted 08/02/2006

Teen pregnancy prevention low on list of public priorities, says founder of successful program

The Wall Street Journal has cited the success of a Bamberg County teen pregnancy prevention program, but notwithstanding the national exposure, the program’s founder doubts the public’s will to carry the effort statewide.

“Primary prevention of public health problems unfortunately is a lower priority of policy makers than secondary prevention and tertiary care programs” said Dr. Murray Vincent, a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the Arnold School of Public Health.

The Journal’s July 22 front-page story, which focused on the national decline of teen pregnancies, reported that in large part due to the program Vincent helped start, Bamberg County has among the lowest rates of teen pregnancy in South Carolina.

By comparison, neighboring Allendale County has one of the state’s highest teen pregnancy rates.

Both counties have similar demographics, with a quarter of the population living below the poverty line, most in one-parent households and about 60 percent African-American.

The difference is that in Bamberg contraceptive information and other birth control services are   available and accessible.

“The program represents basic public health practice with interventions directed to all groups, health and human services agencies, faith organizations, interest groups and the community at large,” said Vincent. 

“Conceptually teen pregnancy is not just a problem of the teen female and her partner, but a problem for parents, teachers, faith leaders and the entire community,” he said.

The Denmark-Olar Teen Life Center in Denmark is the headquarters of the Bamberg County program. It is widely credited with helping cut the county's estimated pregnancy rate among females ages 15 to 19 by nearly two-thirds from 1982 to 2004, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Allendale, which doesn’t have a similar effort, has a teen pregnancy rate about 2.6 times higher than that of Bamberg

The national teen pregnancy rate of females ages 15 to 19 decreased 27 percent from 1990 to 2000, including a 32 percent drop among black females of the same age range.

The Teen Life Center, largely funded by Medicaid, offers 36 sex education classes in local schools and also holds personal counseling sessions twice monthly for youth eligible for Medicaid.

Michelle Nimmons, director of the program, also is making free condoms available for teens, dropping them off at a local laundry where kids hang out, at a beauty salon and a barber shop. The program, which has a staff of eight, also has conducted media campaigns and offered sex education classes for adults.

Vincent, in cooperation with public health and education professionals, started the program in 1982 with a U.S. Public Health Service grant of $50,000 and renewable for four additional years. The USC professor, now retired, served as director until 1994.

Currently there are other county teen pregnancy programs funded through the South Carolina Department of Social Services. To approach the success of the Bamberg County program, Vincent estimates “it would take from $200,000 to $250,000 to per year to run a decent project.  This means one would be able to hire two to three professionals at each site to coordinate and implement the numerous interventions.” 

 According to Vincent, the fact that the program continues to exist is significant. Most similar projects die within a few years after external funds end. In the Bamberg County case, however, the project acquired additional funding and “community acceptance resulted in a project model that evolved and became better in ensuing years,” he said.