Howard County To Provide Free Condoms, STI Testing For All High Schools
HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) — Howard County Public Schools and the Health Department are teaming up to promote safe sex and offer free condoms for high school students.
The program is aimed at reducing sexually transmitted infections and will be available in all 12 Howard County high schools, making them one of the few districts to do so.
The state has reported 45,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, a 10 percent increase from the year before.
"We've had rising rates of sexually transmitted infections for the last few years," said Child Health Medical Director Jacqueline Douge.
In Howard County, the numbers were some of the highest in a decade for all ages.
This prompted the Health Department and school district to team up, now offering free condoms to high school students, along with free testing for sexually transmitted infections.
"There's an opportunity for us to do better education and outreach so we can provide teens with the knowledge they need," Douge said. "In the adolescent and teenage population, sexually transmitted infections have been a rising concern,"
Each student who requests a free kit will receive a bag of condoms and additional health information, and the program is completely confidential- parents and guardians will not be informed if their student requests it.
[WJZ Reporter:] "Doctor, how do you address kids concerned about going in there or maybe even embarrassed?"
"Our staff is well familiar with working with youth to make them feel comfortable," Douge said.
In September, Howard County began providing test kits for sexually transmitted infections for students who wanted to have it done.
Both Baltimore City and Montgomery County have similar programs.
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