Free In-Home Kits Help Encourage STD Testing in Young People

Public health officials nationally and in cities including Baltimore are using the Internet to address STD testing barriers among teens and young adults. Youths are accessing chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis testing through the "I Want the Kit" (IWTK) program, which serves to eliminate concerns about cost, confidentiality, and stigma.

Developed by Johns Hopkins University and supported by government grants, IWTK already serves people in Maryland, Washington, West Virginia, parts of Illinois and in Denver and Philadelphia. People can order free in-home testing kits from the website, www.iwantthekit.org, through Facebook or via a smartphone application that can read barcodes on IWTK brochures, which are distributed in schools and clinics. Kits mailed in plain envelopes include the swab, a questionnaire, STD information, and a consent form. Patients can access results by telephone in two weeks, using a unique identification number and passcode.

About 43 percent return the swab, yielding positive rates of up to 13 percent depending on gender and STD. Half of the 3,500 IWTK clients have been under age 23, and some have been repeat clients. Those testing positive are given local referrals for treatment, and almost everyone goes to the appointment, a scheduler says.

The number of people using IWTK should go up in April, STD Awareness Month, following federally funded newspaper and radio campaign, said Dr. Charlotte A. Gaydos, an infectious-disease professor at Hopkins who helped design IWTK. Each kit costs about $65-70, including postage, testing, and labor.

In Baltimore, schools encourage STD testing at their clinics, said Sherry Ketemepi, the city's assistant commissioner for clinical services. City health officials also sought and gained state permission to join CDC's Expedited Partner Therapy program to help treat the partners of patients with gonorrhea and chlamydia.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!