Condom availability program in an inner city public school: effect on the rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infection.

PURPOSE: Sexual activity and sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates are high in adolescents. In this study, we sought to determine whether the initiation of a school-based condom availability program was associated with a decrease in STI rates.

METHODS

We compared the rates of STIs in 15-19-yr-olds reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the 3 years before and after a condom availability program was introduced in Holyoke, MA, as compared with a similar city, Springfield, MA, which did not have such a program.

RESULTS

Holyoke males, aged 15-19 years, showed a 47% decrease in the rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infection combined over the 3 years after the implementation of the condom availability program, whereas similar aged males in Springfield had a 23% increase in the rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infection. The difference in regression slopes in this period was significant (p < .01). Females, aged 15-19 years, from either Holyoke or Springfield, showed moderate, variable changes in rates of STIs after 2005; there was no significant difference in the regression slopes of STIs between Holyoke and Springfield.

CONCLUSIONS

Initiating a condom availability program in a city's high school was associated with a decrease in STI rates for 15-19-yr-old males but not females.