More than 100,000 New Yorkers are known to be living with HIV/AIDS.
High School-based STD Screening: From Privately-Funded Pilot to City Program
Among young people aged 15-24, chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Though easily cured with antibiotics, these STDs are often asymptomatic and, when left untreated, can lead to serious complications. Screening and treating students helps prevent problems and reduces the spread of infection in the population. Learning about prevention and safer sex early in adolescence can help youth prevent STDs, HIV and pregnancy, and set the stage for healthier behaviors throughout their lives.
In 2005, private foundation funding allowed the NYC Health Department to pilot an innovative education, screening and treatment program targeting high school students. The school-based STD program was launched to test the feasibility and acceptability of this new model in five public high schools. In its pilot phase, the program was able to educate 1,798 students about the risks of STDs, test 1,006 (59.3%) for chlamydia and gonorrhea, diagnose 55 (5.2%), and treat all but two (96.4%). These early efforts also indicated that the program would be met with little resistance from parents and school administrators.
Based on the documented public health benefit of the program, it is now offered to approximately 30,000 NYC high school students annually. Since the pilot, the program has been able to expand its outreach and spark new initiatives. The NYC Health Department has implemented a web-based and telephonic automated results system for students to check test results, targeted high morbidity neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn for participation and had a manuscript accepted for publication on the program.
The project’s success is due in large part to a private sector funder willing to jump-start public programs as part of its mission to make New York City a vital and secure place to live, coupled with the ability of Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY) to accept and manage private funds to advance this goal. This public-private partnership made it possible to test a model and achieve proof of concept, turning a small pilot project into a wide-scale, city-funded program that has the potential to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes for years to come. To learn more about this collaboration, click here.