Private MD News

Countries find creative solutions to increase STD testing

Category: Chlamydia

U.S. public health officials who are trying to curb rising rates of sexually transmitted disease may be interested in looking to the efforts of other countries for innovative solutions. For example, Australian authorities recently launched a program that pays young people to seek STD testing.

Individuals between the ages of 16 and 30 who are sexually active will be paid $10 from participating pharmacies in the country’s Australian Capital Territory for taking a Chlamydia test, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Furthermore, those pharmacies will receive another $10 from government agencies for every test they perform.

The more is part of a national effort to curb rising STD rates. Officials said that it is less expensive to provide widespread testing now than it is to treat the effects of the diseases later in life.

"What we are trying to do is raise awareness, provide access to young people to testing but also to show that chlamydia is something that anyone can get that is sexually active," Rhian Parker of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the Australian National University told the news source.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that STD testing is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of infections.