The United States has responded to this affirmation with vigor. We began our response to Cairo by recognizing that every day American women are faced with threats to their well-being simply because they are women. But we also recognized that when given knowledge, education, opportunity, and power, women can be heroines and move mountains to help themselves and others they are destined to nurture. We hope that other nations see our initiatives as demonstration models, just as we have benefited and learned from innovative programs around the world. Studies show that girls encounter different social, cultural, physiological, and psychological challenges than do boys.
Drug use is also on the rise.
Girls today are 15 times more likely than their mothers to have begun using illegal drugs by age 15, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. In addition, they also receive health messages about drug use, sexual activity, nutrition, and mental health. As their transition into womanhood continues, our National Strategy to Prevent Teen Pregnancy helps them through the next phase. This strategy promotes education to encourage abstinence, conducts evaluations, and funds pilot projects. Teen pregnancy rates and births have declined in the United States in recent years, but the teen birth rate is still two to seven times higher than that of other industrialized countries.