- Sex education is not required to be taught in American Samoan schools.
- The American Samoa Department of Education health education program includes an HIV School Health Project, which provides education about HIV infection and AIDS.
- Students in grades 7-12 receive information on STDs, HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy through the Teenage Health Teaching Modules. This program includes lessons on interpersonal communication, “refusal skills, self-esteem, decision-making, and role playing.”
- With the goal of reducing HIV infection, schools encourage students to abstain from sexual intercourse, to not inject drugs and, when deemed appropriate, to use condoms if they become sexually active.
For more detailed information on how various areas in the this Pacific Island have been implementing these standards — and for recent legislation — you can read SIECUS’s profile on U.S. Territories: Guam and Other Pacific Islands.