New CDC Report Demonstrates Critical Need for STD Testing and Sex Education

ALBANY, NY (01/17/2009)(readMedia)-- Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood President/CEO Patricia McGeown expressed deep concern over the findings of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report indicating high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI), particularly among women, and reinforced the need to take action to reduce these alarming numbers.

"This study underscores what Planned Parenthood has stated for years: Women, men and teens need to know how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections. They need medically accurate and age-appropriate information to make responsible decisions," said McGeown. "It is also critical that they have access to affordable health care for vital testing and treatment."

According to the CDC, more than 1.4 million cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea were reported in the U.S. in 2007, and the number of reported syphilis cases continued to increase. While the Capital District was not among the metropolitan areas included in this most recent study, chlamydia rates in the region have been rising steadily with Albany County posting the highest rates of chlamydia in the seventeen counties of northeastern New York at 327.6 cases per 1,000 population in the latest report year of 2004. The CDC also estimates that half of all new cases of chlamydia occur among young people under the age of 20 years.

UHPP health centers in downtown Albany and Troy, as well as in Hudson, offer urine based testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections as well as rapid HIV testing and counseling. Services are available on a sliding fee scale, according to income, to those without health insurance and staff are ready and able to help eligible patients enroll in Medicaid or other health coverage programs. The agency also provides many community and school programs on topics related to sexual health.

"These reports are further evidence of the need for medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education," McGeown said. "We are hopeful that members of the New York State legislature will take this new information to heart and quickly pass the Healthy Teens Act so that young people in our state will have the information they need to make healthy, responsible decisions about sex and avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."

Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide annually provide millions of women, men and teens with sexual and reproductive health care services and medically accurate sex education. In 2008, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood provided patients with over 7,000 tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and over 2,000 HIV tests.

For more information about UHPP services, please visit www.uhpp.org or call 1-800-PLAN to reach your nearest Planned Parenthood health center.

For further information on the CDC study, go to http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats07/.