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Background: While there is evidence that community-wide control of STDs prevents transmission, there is also increasing competition for resources among government and non-government organizations.
Objectives: To measure the effectiveness of a one-day, inter-jurisdictional STD/HIV screening event. To assess benefits, challenges, and limitations of working collaboratively on STD/HIV screening.
Methods: Nine Community-Based Organizations (CBO’s) offered 18 hours of free Syphilis, HIV, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea testing over the course of 28 hours, in 11 different locations, across three jurisdictions (the District of Columbia two adjoining counties). Testing locations were chosen based on syphilis morbidity rates and CBO’s familiarity and access to neighborhoods. Street outreach teams were recruited through Facebook, Listservs of partner CBO’s and academic institutions. Outreach training was provided to all volunteers and covered safety, ethics, cultural sensitivity, STI’s and sexual health prevention messages. The number of individuals tested at each location and anecdotal qualitative feedback was documented.
Results: 355 HIV tests, 210 syphilis tests and 48 urine tests for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea were conducted. Barriers to testing and benefits to collaboration were identified.
Conclusions: Collaboration provided opportunities which would not have been possible had government and non-government organizations attempted screening on their own, such as access to resources (i.e. mobile testing units, condoms, phlebotomists, volunteers), access to broader community populations, and breadth of coverage (i.e., more hours of testing, more testing locations). Limitations included lack of resources for event promotion, formal evaluation, and lack of preparatory analysis of ideal times and locations for screening.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: This event provides a model for other organizations to collaborate across borders to offer more comprehensive STD/HIV services. Comparative analysis of collaborative vs. non-collaborative events should be conducted to identify the validity of these findings and to provide recommendations for financial policies which favor organizations who work collaboratively.