As we approach the one day of the year that it’s acceptable to be an overly sentimental, lovey-dovey sap, we decided to editorialize on a relevant issue: STIs.
In D.C. alone, the rate for gonorrhea is 4.3 times higher than the national average, while the rate for chlamydia is 2.7 times higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, accessible testing for these infections also exists, sometimes even free of charge — unless the Department of Health decides to cut funding for free tests, as has happened recently to D.C.-area universities. Upon hearing their reasoning, we can understand why such cuts were made, but we believe that the subsidizing of such testing is important to increase access for students who cannot afford to pay for it.
Not all STI testing was affected, just that of chlamydia and gonorrhea. The Student Health Center, up until last fall, provided the now $30 test free of charge to AU students. Although $30 does not seem like an enormous chunk of change, to college students operating on little to no income, it’s a pretty big deal. For some, it’s a large enough chunk of change to avoid testing altogether, especially if they don’t know for sure if they need the tests.
We’ll hand it to D.C. college students — the primary reason for the funding cut was that STI rates among us are pretty low. The Department of Health diverted our funding towards high school testing and treatment, which is substantially more important considering that the 15-18 age demographic accounts for half of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in D.C.
One factor contributing to these cuts may have been the lack of student representation in the D.C. government. Aside from Deon Jones and the student representative elected to the Georgetown area Advisory Neighborhood Commission, college student representation in D.C. government is non-existent, which means that important decisions that affect us are being made without our input.
In the meantime, the Student Health Center is hard at work trying to restore free testing and is even considering collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University to make this a reality.
We applaud the efforts of the Health Center in helping ensure AU students have access to these tests, although we wish that the Department of Health would restore the funding first.
