Iris House & GMHC to launch increased testing of chlamydia and gonorrhea

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Krishna Stone | 212.367.1016

New York, NY — On Thursday, February 7 (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day), Iris House and GMHC, two leading AIDS service organizations in NYC, will launch enhanced testing of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) including chlamydia and gonorrhea at GMHC's testing center in Chelsea. Iris House, through its Just for Us program provides comprehensive HIV, STI, Hepatitis C (HCV) prevention services to African American and Latina lesbian and bisexual women and girls who are HIV-positive or at high-risk for HIV and other STIs. GMHC, through its Women's Care, Prevention & Support Services and in partnership with the David Geffen Center for HIV Prevention and Health Education Center provides comprehensive prevention and care services to women of color of all sexual orientations who are HIV-positive or at high risk for HIV and other STIs.

While both organizations provide HIV, syphilis and hepatitis C testing, this collaboration adds the ability for women to be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea, increasing outreach and ensuring more women have greater access to healthcare. Just for Us is the only program funded by the New York State AIDS Institute to provide services to these specific populations — lesbians, bisexual women and women who have sex with women (WSW).

"Our Just for Us program aims to bring awareness of the unique risk factors of lesbians, bisexual women and WSW in an effort to ensure more women know their HIV and STI status, practice safer sex and have access to resources and education available in our community," stated Ingrid Floyd, Executive Director of Iris House. "The collaboration with GMHC increases our capacity to serve this population and better leverages our joint resources."

According to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH), there were over 43,000 cases of chlamydia among females and over 6,300 cases of gonorrhea among females in 2011. Several zip codes are in the top quintile (the portion of a frequency distribution containing one fifth of the total sample) for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in Manhattan, including neighborhoods of Chelsea-Clinton, Central Harlem-Morningside Heights, East Harlem, Washington Heights-Inwood and Greenwich Village-SoHo. Some of these neighborhoods are areas with high rates of poverty.

Marjorie J. Hill, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of GMHC, commented: "Lesbians, bisexual women and WSW are at risk for HIV and other STIs because of stigma, homophobia, silence, secrecy and invisibility. All women, no matter how they identify, need a safe and welcoming space from which to receive medical information and support. It is imperative that we increase our education, outreach and testing efforts to address the misperceptions that many lesbians, bisexual women and WSW have about HIV and STI infection and transmission."

HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STIs and tuberculosis often impact the same individuals and communities. Co-occurrence is the presence of two or more diseases in a population. Identifying neighborhoods with the greatest burden of co-occurring disease can help target resources and design neighborhood-level interventions, including education of residents, medical providers, and organizations that serve these geographic areas. (NYCDOHMH, December 2012)

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About GMHC
GMHC is a not-for-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based organization committed to national leadership in the fight against AIDS.  We provide prevention and care services to men, women and families that are living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in New York City.  We advocate for scientific, evidence-based public health solutions for hundreds of thousands worldwide.