Your Story : Get Yourself Protected

The rates at which young Americans are contracting sexually transmitted diseases are worrying Michelle Rashad.

Michelle is 17 years old and has been interviewing her friends and peers about why they think young people are not using protection.

She is part of the Your Story citizen journalism project in Chicago. Johnnie (pictured left) and Marcus (pictured right) are also recording their own reports on issues they care about.

The US based Centre for Disease Control reported that the highest number of cases recorded for any condition was for chlamydia. Young African American women are reported most at risk.

The youth music station, MTV are running a campaign - Get Yourself Tested - under the banner that one in two young people in the USA , will catch a sexually transmitted disease before they reach the age of 25.