AIDS New Brunswick starts new sexual health testing clinic

AIDS New Brunswick will begin offering a biweekly clinic in Fredericton to test for sexually transmitted infections in an attempt to remove what the organization calls a "barrier" to sexual health care in the province.

The clinic, which will start on Wednesday and will be held at AIDS New Brunswick’s Fredericton office, will offer access to testing, primarily to young people.

The need for more testing options became more acute in 2011, when the provincial government blocked people between the ages of 20 and 24 from using the province’s sexual health clinics.

Stephen Alexander, the executive director of AIDS New Brunswick, said getting tested is an important part of limiting the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

He said the message of practising safe sex is out there but it doesn't seem to be getting through to some people.

"I see that there is unfortunately a higher rate of [STIs for] people between the ages of 15 and 24. And that's upsetting,” he said.

“That tells us that the education is not out there or that the messaging that is out there is not hitting home where it should be hitting home.”

AIDS New Brunswick is partnering with the University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Nursing to hold these clinics.

Joan Kingston, an instructor with UNB’s Faculty of Nursing and the nurse manager at the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre, said the new clinic was made possible because of roughly $40,000 in funding provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The healthy agency encouraged the nursing faculty to find a community partner this year.

Kingston said the clinic is important for some people who want to be tested in a confidential setting.

“There are lots of people in different situations who want to have more confidentiality, more anonymity perhaps in terms of having STI testing done. They also want to go to a place where they feel comfortable,” Kingston said.

"For some people that would mean another agency in the community, other than a health care agency, would be the place they would feel more comfortable going.”

Kingston said people who want to be tested can go to the new clinic and a nurse from the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre will take blood and urine samples. The results will often be ready in about three days.

STI rates on the rise

Sexually transmitted infection rates have been on the rise in the province since 2010.

A 2013 report from the Department of Health said chlamydia and gonorrhea are the main sexually transmitted infections for young people aged 15 to 24.

Chlamydia rates have been rising since 2007 and reached epidemic proportions in 2011, according to the chief medical officer of health. The number of cases went from 1,240 in 2007 to 1,923 in 2012.

Three-quarters of those with chlamydia were people between the ages of 15 and 24. And 73 per cent of those individuals were females.

Gonorrhea rates have also been going up in recent years.

The incidence rate tripled in people between the ages of 15 and 24 between 2006 and 2011, according to the health department.

As well, the number of syphilis cases was up 60 per cent in 2012 compared to 2010 level and it went up again in 2013.

AIDS New Brunswick’s Alexander said more needs to be done in the province to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Alexander said he hopes the idea of talking about sexual health will not be so taboo in the future. He said it should be just another conversation that parents have with their children.