The first public health department program to utilize free, home testing as part of its overall sexually transmitted disease (STD) control strategy is expanding to now reach a combined population of over 16 million people. The service, which began in Los Angeles County in 2009, is now available in San Francisco, Sacramento, Calif., San Diego, and Alameda, Calif., counties. The “I Know” campaign was designed to address the barriers that prevent young adults from seeking health care services. It is particularly aimed at young, minority females in high-morbidity communities, allowing them the ability to take chlamydia and gonorrhea tests in the privacy of their own home. Self-collected, vaginal swab kits are either picked up or mailed to the user and then mailed back to a designated public health laboratory for processing. Results will be available securely online or by phone one week later with text and/or e-mail reminders to alert participants that results are available. The first published evaluation of the program was printed in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health say that in the program’s first year, promotion with a social marketing campaign targeting Hispanics […]
The first public health department program to utilize free, home testing as part of its overall sexually transmitted disease (STD) control strategy is expanding to now reach a combined population of over 16 million people. The service, which began in Los Angeles County in 2009, is now available in San Francisco, Sacramento, Calif., San Diego, and Alameda, Calif., counties.
The “I Know” campaign was designed to address the barriers that prevent young adults from seeking health care services. It is particularly aimed at young, minority females in high-morbidity communities, allowing them the ability to take chlamydia and gonorrhea tests in the privacy of their own home. Self-collected, vaginal swab kits are either picked up or mailed to the user and then mailed back to a designated public health laboratory for processing. Results will be available securely online or by phone one week later with text and/or e-mail reminders to alert participants that results are available.
The first published evaluation of the program was printed in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health say that in the program’s first year, promotion with a social marketing campaign targeting Hispanics and African Americans enabled 2,927 women to order home collection kits with 1,543 testable specimens returned. A total of 131 women (8.5 percent) had a positive test result, leading the authors to conclude that “the strong response, high morbidity, and program scalability indicated strong potential as a new tool for STD control.” For more on the increasing interest in at-home testing, please see Inside the Diagnostics Industry on page 5.
