May 22, 2007 The Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that it is awarding a $207,000 grant to an Austin, Texas organization, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, to develop an online program that will train abstinence education providers in “methods to access medically accurate sexual health information via the internet.” Today’s notice indicates that “Participants will learn to identify credible internet sources for sexual health information, efficiently and effectively search the internet, and answer most questions on sexual health topics.” The notice points out that the single-source grant to the Medical Institute for Sexual Health is within a congressional directive that 5 percent of funds appropriated for abstinence education should be used for “technical assistance and capacity building.” The announcement comes as Congress is expected to debate whether to continue federal funding for abstinence education in the coming 2008 appropriations bill. The grant announcement appeared in the May 22, 2007, issue of the Federal Register online, at www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. |
