Fresno State has drastically improved its ranking in the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card this year, moving from 85th last year to 35th in the U.S.

The report card, independently researched by Sperling’s BestPlaces, analyzed 141 colleges in the United States, including those in Alaska, Hawaii and the District of Columbia. The highest-ranked schools were No. 1 Columbia University of New York, Michigan State University in 2nd and Ohio State University in 3rd.­ The lowest ranking schools were the University of Idaho at 141st, Brigham Young University at 140th,and DePaul University at 139th.

Student health centers were assessed using 13 categories including hours of operation, student opinion of the given health center, ease of appointment scheduling, contraceptive availability, on-site HIV testing, on-site STI testing, availability of sexual assault programs, outreach programs for sexual health issues and website functionality.

While the United States is ranked 46th by the CIA world fact book for infant mortality rate, a commonly used indicator for the healthcare quality of a country, it lags behind in sexual education of the college age population.­ A mere 21 states in the U.S. require sexual education in schools, according to the Guttmacher Institute.­ And while 15 to 24-year-olds make up only one fourth of sexually active people in the U.S., they account for 48 percent of newly diagnosed sexually transmitted diseases, according to The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center.

The Guttmacher Institute reports that teen pregnancy in the United States is also on the rise, with 82 percent of pregnant teens reporting their pregnancies as unplanned.

Fresno State has several programs for students, including the Family PACT, which is aimed at preventing unplanned pregnancy and can cover virtually all healthcare costs relating to reproductive health for eligible students.

“In 2009 we made a significant change, and that was adding Family PACT to the Student Health Center,” said Kathleen Yarmo, coordinator of health promotion and wellness services.

Family PACT is a program that provides free services for both men and women.­ Reproductive health, STI testing, counseling, birth control methods and barrier methods are all components of the program.

“We got a lot of requests from the students for Family PACT, so we brought it to the campus. Family PACT is a state program, but it is funded 70 percent by the federal government and 30 percent by the state.­ As of last spring we had enrolled over 4,000 students in the program. Through April of 2011, we billed for and collected over $1.2 million for the program,” Yarmo added.

The Student Health Center also employs peer health educators to provide one-on-one counseling sessions to students who need someone to speak with about family planning or other related issues.

“It’s a really good experience being a peer health educator. The one-on-one sessions are really gratifying. People come in and disclose personal information. We are there to give them as much information as they need to make the sexual health decisions that are best for them,” said peer health educator and Fresno State student Brittany Collins.

“One of my favorite parts is being able to talk to my peers, not like a doctor-patient kind of thing, but just a regular conversation on sex and sexual health. It’s a big thing in our age group, and a lot of people don’t realize all what comes along with sex. They need to take care of their health too,” said peer health educator and Fresno State student Jessica Braze.

The peer educators of the Student Health Center are also involved in outreach services.­ They do class presentations on health issues and host educational booths at events such as the Fall Harvest Fest.

The Student Health Center will be running a social norms poster campaign in the upcoming months to make students aware of the large percentage of the Fresno State population already using some type of protection.

“The posters are being displayed at the Student Union on Nov. 8 to 9 and at the Wellness Fair on Nov. 15 to enable student to vote for their favorite two designs,” said peer health education student coordinator Prisma Cuevas.­ “The top two designs will be featured up around the Fresno State campus.”