All seven California Planned Parenthood affiliates are poised to lead the way in sexual and reproductive health while increasing health equity in California.
Since 2012, California has seen skyrocketing rates of STIs across the board — creating what public health officials are calling an “STI crisis” in the state. California is seeing more chlamydia and gonorrhea infections than any time in the last 25 years. The state also has the 3rd highest rate of syphilis and congenital (at birth) syphilis in the country.
An STI initiative was created in Fall 2018 in order to reduce STIs to improve community health. The affiliates are collecting data, sharing best practices, and engaging in dialogue to make a big public health impact.
Young people (under age 25) are the most impacted by this STI crisis. In fact, half of all chlamydia cases and a third of all gonorrhea cases in California are diagnosed in young people.
As the leading provider of sexual and reproductive health care for California’s youth, Planned Parenthood is highly equipped to tackle to these challenges.
The initiative aims to increase prevention, testing, and treatment for STIs and HIV, with a focus on patients who are or have the ability to become pregnant.
After implementing these measures, the initial findings across the state for 2018 were:
- Over 13,000 more patients (a 58% increase) were tested for syphilis in Q4 than in Q1.
- There was a 57% increase in syphilis testing for patients who may become pregnant in Q4 than in Q1.
- There was close to a 20% increase in treatment for patients who tested positive for syphilis.
- Testing pregnant patients for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, and HIV increased by more than 4 times throughout the year.
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