Adolescent health experts met in Beijing, China at the Chinese-American Forum on Adolescent Sexual Health to discuss lessons learned in America and how these experiences might impact health policy in China. Medical, educational and policy experts from the United States and China convened at Peking University’s Medical School to share research and adolescent health data. Chinese experts voiced concerns about emerging high-risk behaviors among their adolescents and requested information on America’s sexual history and current state of adolescent health.

The conference was co-sponsored by The National Physicians Center for Family Resources (NPC), the China Sexology Association and Green Apple House Adolescent Health Center of Beijing.

Discussions focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and education that supports and respects all aspects of adolescent development, including the physical, emotional, intellectual, psychological and spiritual, as well as the limitations of condoms. Both the Chinese and American delegations agreed that the holistic approach is crucial in maintaining and improving the lives and health of young people.

“With 200 million of our citizens between the ages of 10 and 20, it is critically important that we maintain our long-standing traditional values of delaying sexual involvement until marriage, and monogamy within marriage; the health and prosperity of our nation is at stake,” said Professor Chen Yi Yun, Director of China’s Sexology Association.

“We agree,” said Dr. Jane Anderson of University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. “We have learned about the interconnection between risk behaviors and what has been successful in reducing the incidence of adolescent pregnancy and STDs in America. Adolescents who are more connected to their families, encouraged to make healthy choices, taught refusal skills, and who make a pledge for healthy living (including sexual abstinence) are less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors, become pregnant, or contract an STD during adolescence.”

The conference, presented to a standing-room-only audience, included high-ranking officials from the Chinese health and education ministries, China’s largest hospital, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Beijing’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Youth League, the China National Red Cross and Peking University, among others.