Condom Availability Program in an Inner City Public School: Effect on the Rates of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Infection

Abstract

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. 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. 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. 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.