Success story: Expanding access to STD testing through at-home testing

In CDC’s latest addition to its Public Health Practice Stories from the Field:

• Alaska has the nation’s highest chlamydia rate and fourth-highest gonorrhea rate
• Many people are reluctant to seek STD testing in person at medical facilities
• To address these problems, Alaska Native leaders launched an at-home STD testing service to reach high-risk populations—Alaska Native women, rural Alaskans, and people aged 15–29 years
• Preliminary data indicate use of the service is increasing among high risk populations
• 678 of 1,671 test kits mailed out over three years were returned for testing
• 9.4% of samples tested positive for chlamydia, 0.7% for gonorrhea, 4.4% for trichomonas
• All but two persons with disease received treatment

Read Alaska Targets Efforts To Expand STD Testing Access to find out how the state achieved this success.

Read more Public Health Practice Stories from the Field.

Questions? Contact the Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support.