AAP
Younger Australians will be paid to get tested for chlamydia, as health experts look for new ways to combat rising rates of the sexually-transmitted infection.
Young people aged 16 to 30 who are sexually active will be paid $10 if they accept an offer at a participating pharmacy to undergo a chlamydia test.
The initiative is a pilot program running solely in the ACT but if it proves a success, Associate Professor Rhian Parker said it could be rolled out nationally.
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Another $10 is given to the pharmacy for each test they perform, and Dr Parker said if it curtailed transmission of the infection then it would be money well spent.
“Absolutely … chlamydia has a significant cost to the community,” said Dr Parker from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the Australian National University.
“Treating infertility when women are in their 30s, for example, is a very expensive process.
“What we are trying to do is raise awareness, provide access to young people to testing but also to show that chlamydia is something that anyone can get that is sexually active.”
A chlamydia infection is usually easy to resolve with antibiotics but because it has no symptoms it can go unnoticed, and so untreated, for years.
The longer-term effect can be devastating, Dr Parker said, with two-thirds tubal infertility and a third of all cases of ectopic pregnancy attributed to the infection.
She said chlamydia transmission rates had “risen significantly” in the ACT over the past decade, as part of a trend seen across the country.
The pilot study is aiming to test 300 to 400 young people, meaning a total outlay of $6000 to $8000 in payment to those tested and also the pharmacies.
“When you have got something and you don’t know about it, why don’t we help you to make a good decisions about your health,” Dr Parker said of the rationale behind the Australian-first initiative.
“We are looking at what impact it has and it could be rolled out nationally if it is successful.”
There were almost 63,000 notifications for a new chlamydia infection nationwide during 2009.
There are six participating pharmacies – Devlin’s Garema Place, City Markets, Priceline and Pyes – in central Canberra and in suburban pharmacies in Hughes and Charnwood.