Girl Power! is a national public education campaign designed to provide positive messages, accurate health information, and support for 9- to 13-year-old girls. Girl Power! was launched on November 21, 1996, as a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiative led by Secretary Donna E. Shalala to support girls through the sometimes tumultuous years of adolescence. Under the leadership of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA's) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Office on Women's Health, and Office of the Secretary, the program was developed in consultation with several health agencies that make up HHS. Girl Power! is also a product of the girls themselves.

Across the country, girls from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds shared their concerns and ideas with CSAP in focus groups. As a result, the Girl Power! campaign combines the latest knowledge about girls' lives with messages designed to be appealing to girls and to the adults who care about them. For example, Girl Power! has collaborated with the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. to develop materials for young girls and worked with Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes to produce public service announcements and posters on physical fitness.

Girl Power! uses a comprehensive prevention model to develop and promote strategies that address a spectrum of health risk issues for 9- to 13-year-old girls. These include focusing on health, nutrition, physical activity, and good mental health as well as the prevention of substance abuse, eating disorders, and early sexual activity.

The goal of Girl Power! is to mobilize parents, schools, communities, religious organizations, health providers, and other caring adults to make regular sustained efforts to reinforce girls' self-confidence by providing "no-use" messages about tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs, with an emphasis on providing opportunities for girls to build skills in academics, arts, and sports. For girls, the campaign provides fun and educational materials, such as posters, stickers, bookmarks, book covers, pins, and a diary. Girl Power! also has a highly successful Web site at www.health.org/gpower that receives millions of "hits" every month.[1]

The Girl Power! campaign is important because it recognizes that while some health messages work equally well for boys and girls, girls also need to hear health messages targeted to their unique needs, interests, and challenges. During much of the 1990's, research reports have shown increases in usage rates for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs among female adolescents. However, there is some good news regarding girls. Based on the findings of the 1999 Monitoring the Future Survey, female adolescent use of cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs has begun to decline:

*Cigarette use within the last 30 days declined from 21.1 percent to 17.7 percent.

*Marijuana use within the past month declined from 16.9 percent in 1996 to 14.9 percent in 1999.

*Any illicit drug use within the past month declined from 14.7 percent in 1996 to 11.2 percent in 1999.

This represents very real progress that we can and should celebrate, but the continued growth and expansion of the program is crucial to the well-being of U.S. girls, both those already in the pivotal age range as well as future girls. For example, alcohol use among girls has remained relatively stable in recent years (19.9 percent in 1997 and 18.7 percent in 1998) and many girls are also still using tobacco and illicit drugs. Out of the current population of 11.1 million girls, the following are numbers of those already engaged in substance abuse who are still at risk for many serious problems:

*Alcohol
2.08 million girls

*Cigarettes
1.97 million girls

*Any illicit drug
1.06 million girls

*Marijuana
875,000 girls