Get Yourself Talking; Get Yourself Tested

ALBANY, NY (04/08/2010)(readMedia)-- Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is collaborating with local agencies and student groups to promote more STD testing and more conversation about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as part of the national "GYT" campaign. April is National STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) Awareness Month and for the second year, Planned Parenthood Federation of American has teamed up with MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation to launch a national campaign to encourage America's sexually active youth to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

The GYT acronym stands for two important actions: Get Yourself Tested AND Get Yourself Talking. The long term mission of the GYT Campaign is to spark a youthful, empowering social movement around getting tested. It encourages young people to "take control of our lives" by "talking openly about getting tested and getting it done. Campaign PSAs and printed materials encourage health providers to talk more with their young patients; parents to talk with their sons and daughters; and young men and women to talk to each other about STD prevention and testing.

The campaign features a national web site at www.itsyoursexlife.com with lots of factual information about STD prevention, symptoms, medical consequences, testing and treatment options. On that site, as well as on the national Planned Parenthood web site (www.plannedparenthood.org) , visitors can use an interactive risk assessment tool to assess their own personal risk. Once they determine their own risk level, visitors can also enter their home zip code into a Testing Center Locator to find out the closest available testing location. To make it even easier, those will cell phones can text their zip code to GYT09 (49809) and a text message will be sent to their mobile phone with information about the nearest Planned Parenthood testing center.

Locally, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is working with students at the University at Albany to offer a Q and A session on STDs and to distribute campaign materials. Agency providers will be making a special point of encouraging patients to consider STD testing and to talk with their partners and/or parents about STD prevention and testing. UHPP high school peer educators in Hudson and Albany will hold a house party to view and discuss a special edition of MTV's Ryan's World focusing on GYT. UHPP has also invited youth-serving agencies and health care providers in the capital region to join in the campaign. UHPP volunteers will be tabling at health centers and walking the Lark Street area distributing campaign materials. The UHPP campaign will feature locally produced handouts featuring "conversation starters" as well as a fact sheet about the major STDs which includes UHPP testing methods and costs.

According to the most recent reports from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in two young people will contract an STD by age 25 and most will not even be aware they are infected. Many STDs do not show symptoms. All STDs are treatable and many are curable, so getting tested is the best solution. But the widespread prevalence of misinformation, myth and fear among young people about both STDs and STD testing presents a formidable barrier that has kept too many away from the truth, and therefore, too many who continue to act as unidentified carriers.

Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (UHPP) is a community-based non-profit organization providing advocacy, education and medical services for reproductive health care since 1934. In 2009, over 14,000 patients made 24,975 visits to UHPP health centers located in Albany, Hudson and Troy. UHPP health educators presented over 300 education programs reaching over 5,000 youth and young adults. UHPP services are delivered with special concern for the underserved.