By Mary Kathryn Carpenter

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Teen pregnancy and the transmission of sexual diseases among Adams County teens will be the topic of a town hall meeting tonight.

Four panelists will discuss those issues at 6 p.m. in the Natchez City Council Chambers auditorium.

The event is sponsored by the Coalition of Teen Health and is being backed by the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, said CHMI Director Getty Israel.

“(Teens) don’t understand how they can get infected,” Israel said. “If parents are not teaching their kids about the harm of risky sexual behavior, someone has to.”

The meeting will be open to teens, parents and any community members who are interested in the issue.

Josh McCavey, a representative from Mississippi First and a panelist who will be speaking at the town hall meeting, said he talk about an abstinence plus sex education program.

“This policy is called the Creating Health and Responsible Teens Initiative or CHART,” McCavey said. “We are currently partnered with 31 schools in Mississippi and are hoping to expand to Natchez-Adams.”

McCavey said CHART is funded by grants from the Mississippi Department of Health and provides curriculum, books and teacher training about abstinence plus to schools for no cost.

McCavey will speak more on the initiative and other topics at the town hall meeting, along with District 8 Health Officer Thomas Dobbs, District 7 Health Officer Leslie England and NASD Health Instructor Audrey Curry.