Hengel, Jamil, Mein, Maher, Kaldo, & Guy (2013), systematically reviewed several strategies and their respective outcomes for gonorrhea and Chlamydia screening. Their study was necessitated by the fact that the prevalence of Chlamydia and gonorrhea was high among populations who lack regular access to health care centers where they can be tested for different sexual diseases (STIs). The main goal of their study was to establish the effectiveness and outcomes of various outreach gonorrhea and Chlamydia screening strategies. This is because testing and treating STIs is the most effective approach to preventing adverse impacts of STIs on infected people. Untreated Chlamydia and gonorrhea commonly lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and in extreme cases to infertility (Hengel, Jamil, Mein, Maher, Kaldo & Guy, 2013). The method employed in their study was reviews of literature for the English language published studies on Chlamydia and gonorrhea screening. The results of their studies showed that most of the screening programs done in the United States and Australia targeted young people, mostly those aged between 15-29 years (Hengel, Jamil, Mein, Maher, Kaldo & Guy, 2013). The study concludes that though relatively few people were served by the screening programs, the number of those who tested positive of the two STIs was high hence it can be deduced that the rates of infections of gonorrhea and Chlamydia among young people are high.
Kørup, Thygesen, dePont Christensen, Johansen, Søndergaard & Hvidt (2016), carried out a study to determine if there was any connection between church membership and sexually transmitted diseases. Their study was a cohort study focusing on two Danish religious groups which were Danish Baptists and Danish Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs). According to Kørup, Thygesen, dePont Christensen, Johansen, Søndergaard & Hvidt (2016), many studies that have been carried out in the past on the two religious groups showed that they both had a lower risk of cancer and other chronic diseases; this was highly attributed to their lifestyles. However, there were no studies on STIs that have been carried out among the two religious groups. The goal of this study was, therefore, to explore the incidence of STIs among members of the two religious groups and relate it to their sexual behaviors. The method that was employed for this study was checking for all the inpatient and outpatient records from the National Patient Register. The incidence of gonorrhea, syphilis, and Chlamydia among the members of the two religious groups was compared to that of the general population. The findings showed that the members of the Baptist and SDAs religious groups had significantly lower prevalence of the STIs (Kørup, Thygesen, dePont Christensen, Johansen, Søndergaard & Hvidt, 2016). It was concluded that the rates were lower due to their religious beliefs that prohibit pre-marital sex, hence lower STIs infection rates.
Spauwen, Hoebe, Brouwers, & Dukers-Muijrers (2011), suggested that offering STD testing at vocational schools, helps in improving STD testing behavior among young adults and adolescents who are always at a high risk of STDs because they are sexually active. Many of the young adults infected with STDs do not go for testing; this is mainly due to asymptomatic nature of many STDs. Therefore, according to this study, to encourage STDs testing behavior among the adolescents, new ways and environments that are more attractive to them must be designed (Spauwen, Hoebe, Brouwers & Dukers-Muijrers, 2011). This study concludes that testing rates for STDs increase significantly among adolescents when education and testing facilities are provided to them. Hence STDs screening and testing in vocational schools is most effective in reaching more teenagers.
Taylor, Frasure-Williams, Burnett, & Park (2016), in their study, proposes some interventions that can be most effective in improving screening of sexually transmitted diseases, especially in Clinic based settings. The authors emphasized the need for developing STDs screening interventions that take into consideration resources available and associated costs. Furthermore, the study shows that STDs affects many citizens in the United States and costs millions of dollars annually regarding medical care costs. The method used to analyze the most effective interventions for STDs screening was MEDLINE (Taylor, Frasure-Williams, Burnett & Park, 2016). Controlling and preventing STDs successfully involves testing and swiftly treating infected patients. The results of this study show that the most efficient and cost-effective approach to improving STDs screening include regularly reminding patients to go for screening or rescreening and using electronic health records reminders.
Zakher, Cantor, Pappas, Daeges, & Nelson, (2014), reports that the two most common STIs in the United States are gonorrhea and Chlamydia, this is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk of the two STIs is highly associated with age; this is because infection rates of gonorrhea and Chlamydia are highest in persons who are between 15 to 24 years. Moreover, the infection rates are higher for women in the same age bracket than men. The high rates of the two STIs among the young people are as a result of sexual risk behavior such as having multiple sex partners and failure to use condoms (Zakher, Cantor, Pappas, Daeges & Nelson, 2014). The purpose of the study was to carry out a systemic review of studies on the screening of Chlamydia and gonorrhea, so as to determine the accuracy and benefits of those screenings. From the study, it is evident that gonorrhea and Chlamydia screening of young women helps in reducing the occurrence of pelvic inflammatory disease. Furthermore, the most accurate method for gonorrhea and Chlamydia diagnosis, especially for asymptomatic people, is the nucleic acid amplification tests.
References
Hengel, B., Jamil, M., Mein, J., Maher, L., Kaldo, J., & Guy, R. (2013). Outreach for chlamydia and gonorrhoea screening: a systematic review of strategies and outcomes | BMC Public Health | Full Text. Retrieved from http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1040#CR20
Kørup, A. K., Thygesen, L. C., dePont Christensen, R., Johansen, C., Søndergaard, J., & Hvidt, N. C. (2016). Association between sexually transmitted disease and church membership. A retrospective cohort study of two Danish religious minorities. BMJ open, 6(3), e010128.
Spauwen, L. W., Hoebe, C. J., Brouwers, E. E., & Dukers-Muijrers, N. H. (2011). Improving STD testing behavior among high-risk young adults by offering STD testing at a vocational school. BMC public health, 11(1), 1.
Taylor, M. M., Frasure-Williams, J., Burnett, P., & Park, I. U. (2016). Interventions to improve sexually transmitted disease screening in clinic-based settings. Sexually transmitted diseases, 43(2S), S28-S41.
Zakher, B., Cantor, A. G., Pappas, M., Daeges, M., & Nelson, H. D. (2014). Screening for gonorrhea and chlamydia: a systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of internal medicine, 161(12), 884-893.
