We are glad you are browsing the iwannaknow.org website. The purpose of this site is to provide a safe, educational and fun place for teenagers to learn about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their sexual health. We hope you will take your time and read through the sections. We also invite you to visit the American Social Health Association (ASHA) website, www.ashastd.org, for more detailed information about our organization.

ASHA is a nonprofit organization whose mission for over 90 years has been to stop sexually transmitted diseases and their harmful consequences to individuals, families, and communities.

The iwannaknow.org website is designed specifically for teenagers, and it is our hope that you will allow your teenager the space to learn from this site. We encourage teenagers to seek the guidance of a knowledgeable adult since this is a time in their lives that so many new issues about their bodies, sex and sexual feelings occur. We do not presume to take the place of a parent when discussing sexual health. You know your teenager and are in tune with his or her life. Our goal is to provide educational information in a relaxed, safe and fun environment that can help initiate conversations about sexual health between you and your teenager.

Please feel free to communicate with us by sending an email to info@ashastd.org. As one parent told us, "I want to be the one my son comes to for answers about these things, not some stranger. Your information will help me explain these diseases to him better and help me understand better, too. Thank you for your support. You may not know how much you affect people's lives."

If you are 18 years of age or older and would like to support ASHA's efforts, please visit the ASHA Donation section of our Web site.

Thank you,
The ASHA Staff

P.S. ASHA's report, State of the Nation 2005: Challenges Facing STD Prevention in Youth, highlights the challenges in preventing the spread of STDs among young Americans. Political wrangling over school-based educational programs has overshadowed other key pieces of the prevention puzzle, such as removing barriers to health care for adolescents and ensuring compliance with current medical recommendations for testing and counseling.
Click here to read the report (PDF file, 329 KB).