Empowerment to CheckYourself: Toward A Public Health Solution for Non-Clinic-Based, Self-Collect STI Testing

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic severely diminished the capacity of sexual health programs and clinics through clinic closures, staff redeployment, and significant reductions in routine, asymptomatic STI screening, spurring innovations in the field including non-clinic-based, self-collect STI testing. In response to these innovations and feedback from the field, NCSD partnered with Let'sGetChecked, a commercial lab and technology company, to create a public health solution for non-clinic-based, self-collect STI testing, CheckYourself, which launched its pilot phase in January 2022. METHOD(S) In January of 2022, CheckYourself launched its pilot phase of the program with a Standard 5 test kit [HIV (I, II, P24 antigen), Syphilis EIA, urine GC, CT, and Trichomoniasis] at five public health sites Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Philadelphia Department of Health, Iowa Department of Public Health, Oklahoma Department of Public Health, and Navajo County Department of Public Health. RESULT(S) Pilot sites implemented one or both of the following workflows 1) bulk test kit shipment utilized by DIS for contacts, at health fairs, or by sexual health clinics for clients who present to clinics who have reached capacity for the day;2) provider-initiated test kits sent overnight to clients after a telehealth consultation. At least one clinic utilized bulk shipment test kits for persons seeking a pregnancy test at the public health department. Data and analysis on client and health department satisfaction with program, utilization, positivity rate, time from test order to results, etc., is forthcoming and will be available by the conference. CONCLUSION(S) CheckYourself is the first-ever non-clinic-based, self-collect STI testing solution that was developed by, for, and in partnership with public health departments to reduce barriers to asymptomatic STI screening.