The purpose of PREP is to carry out evidence-based programs designed to educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) is committed to promoting the healthy development of all children and adolescents in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi PREP envisions all Mississippi youth to have access to evidence-based, medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education programs and resources, empowering adolescents to make safer reproductive health choices. Mississippi PREP carries out this vision by working with school districts, community-based organizations, and youth detention centers in counties that are in the most need of evidence-based sex education programs.

The Facts

• 54% of Mississippi high school students say they have had sexual intercourse.
  2015 MS Youth Risk Behavior Survey
• 39% of Mississippi high school students did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
  2015 MS Youth Risk Behavior Survey
• Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school. Only one-third receive a high school diploma. 72% of teen births are to older teens.
• Mississippi had the highest rates of both chlamydia and gonorrhea in the nation in 2015. More than half the cases of both diseases were among adolescents and young adults 15-24 years old.

The Challenge

• Mississippi had the 3rd highest teen birthrate in the United States in 2015.
• Mississippi's teen birth rate (teens ages 15-19) was more than one and a half times the national average in 2015 (34.8 Mississippi births per 1,000 teens vs. 22.0 per 1,000 for the U.S.).
• The children of teen mothers have lower birth weights, are more likely to perform poorly in school, and are at a greater risk of abuse and neglect.
• Since 2009 Mississippi has seen a decline in teen pregnancies, but the state continues to have one of the highest rates of teen birth in the U.S.

  Mississippi Teen Birth Rate (ages 15-19), 2009-2015

  

  Data for 2014 not available

The Costs

Mothers under the age of 18 consume the majority of Mississippi's teen birth spending.

• About four-fifths of Mississippi's spending on teen births goes to mothers under the age of 18.
• Teen childbearing in Mississippi cost taxpayers $137,000,000 in 2010.
• Each $1.00 invested in teen pregnancy prevention saves taxpayers an average of $4.34 in the first year and $17.23 over 5 years, a 1,723% return on investment.

Data Sources

• MSDH Vital Statistics Reports
• Hope Policy Institute