Community organizations encourage people to get tested for STIs
Date: 02/07/24
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB)
While February can often observed as the season of love, area groups encourage everyone to get screened for sexually transmitted infections. Organizers hope the effort will prevent you from having long-term health consequences.
“We have got to put it all over the place social media billboards flyers keep getting the message out get people to post and repost on their social media platforms so people can know where to get tested,” AJ Johnson founder of the Baton Rouge Aids Society.
AJ Johnson has been with the Baton Rouge Aids Society for decades. According to Johnson, although the HIV cases have gone down, Louisiana consistently fluctuates rank in the top ten for several sexually transmitted infections.
“If a person doesn’t have symptoms, they don’t know they have gonorrhea they don’t know they have chlamydia and when they have unprotected sex with someone else and they give them that disease that is why we increased awareness about condoms since it’s still the best since,” said Johnson.
Area health groups like the Louisiana Healthcare Connections are giving out incentives to help encourage people to take the test.
“Anybody that is sexually active should be tested at least once a year and it is easy to do you can go see your doctor and get a test usually a urine test and it’s pretty uncomplicated and there are easy treatments for it,” said Stewart T. Gordon, M.D., FAAP, Louisiana Healthcare Connections Chief Medical Officer.