The New Mexico Department of Health recently became the second state in the country to make “accurate sexual health information” available to anyone in the state with a mobile phone. The project, call “BrdsNBz,” combines health education and personalized text messaging to New Mexicans, according to a release.
To ask questions about the birds and the bees, teens between the ages of 13 and 19 can text “NMTeen” and parents can text “NMParent” to 66746. Question are accurately answered by a trained health educator within 24 hours, and the service is confidential and free.
“This is a great tool,” said Valerie Fisher, Educational Project Officer for the Department of Health, Family Planning Program. “It educates and helps break down some of the barriers parents might have talking to their child about sexual health.”
The BrdsNBz program launched in 2008 in North Carolina, and has only reached certain counties around the country until Monday, September 9th, when the state of New Mexico adopted the program. To learn more, visit http://nmhealth.org/phd/fp/tpp-bnb.shtml.
