Get Tested for Sexually Transmitted Infections Awareness Week
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(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) — Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (SBCPHD) is joining the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control to recognize Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Awareness Week, April 14-20, 2024. STI Awareness Week raises awareness about STIs in an effort to reduce STI-related stigma, fear and discrimination. It is also an opportunity to ensure people have the tools and knowledge to prevent, test for, and promptly treat STIs.
In the 2023 STI report from SBCPHD stated that rates of gonorrhea and early syphilis have been on the rise since 2020, and surpassed pre-pandemic rates setting county records in 2022.
Santa Barbara County encourages sexually active individuals to:
- Talk openly and honestly to your healthcare provider about sexual health and STIs. Your provider is trained and knowledgeable to answer questions about your sexual health.
- Talk with your partner(s) before having sex.
o Ask each other when the last time you were tested.
o Suggest getting tested together.
o Be honest with your partner if you have an STI (like herpes or HIV) and have a conversation about any adjustments you both may need to do during sex.
o Use condoms the correct way for every act of vaginal, anal, and oral sex throughout the entire sex act (from start to finish).
• Get tested. It’s the only way to know for sure if you have an STI or HIV.
o Many STIs don’t cause any symptoms, so you could have one and not know. o Sexually active individuals 18 and over can order self-test kits at TakeMeHome.org for free.
• If you test positive for an STI, work with your healthcare provider to get the treatment. Remember all STIs are treatable. Make sure your treatment works by doing these things:
o Take all of the medication your healthcare provider prescribes, even if you start feeling better or your symptoms go away.
o Don’t share your medicine with anyone.
o Avoid having sex again until you and your sex partner(s) have all completed treatment.
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“In order for us to truly optimally manage diagnosis and treatment of STIs, we must start addressing the stigma that surrounds STIs. It is important to test for and diagnose STIs with an open-minded, non-judgmental approach,” stated, Dr. Henning Ansorg, Public Health Officer. For more information, please visit the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s Sexual Health website at www.sbcsexualhealth.org.