Planned Parenthood commemorates STI Awareness Month

April is STI Awareness Month, and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri (PPSLRSWMO) is hosting its annual Condom Crawl Friday, April 12.

Condom Crawl is a community-wide event where Planned Parenthood volunteers encourage local bar patrons to practice safer sex and get tested for sexually transmitted infections.

PPSLR is committed to educating community members, empowering and informing them about their reproductive health. Each year, Condom Crawl participants distribute more than 5,000 safer sex kits, and encourage the community to be healthy and visit Planned Parenthood for health care services.

Since 2015, five Missouri counties have seen the number of syphilis cases increases more than 1000 percent. In St. Louis, syphilis rates have increased more than 81 percent, with 310 diagnoses in 2018. Furthermore, St. Louis City and County continue to have some of the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea, with more than 9,000 and 4,000 new infections respectively in 2018.

As a leader in sexual and reproductive health care, PPSLRSWMO is committed to the fight against STI rates in the region. In fiscal year 2017-2018, PPSLRSWMO administered nearly 70,000 STI tests, including more than 8,400 HIV tests, and provided sexual health education to more than 7,200 individuals. Planned Parenthood provides testing for HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, genital warts, herpes, trichomoniasis and syphilis at all of its health centers. STI treatment for patients and/or patients’ partners is available for gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.

This year, the Condom Crawl will take place in neighborhoods across St. Louis, St. Charles, Springfield, MO, and Belleville, Ill. Volunteers will distribute condoms, lubricant, and STI/HIV testing information in each neighborhood. The event starts at 9 p.m. on Friday, April 12. Here is the complete list of neighborhoods:

• St. Charles:

  • Main Street St. Charles

• St. Louis:

  • South Grand

  • Cherokee

  • Delmar Loop

  • The Grove

  • Soulard (St. Louis

  • Central West End

• Springfield:

  • Downtown Springfield

• Belleville:

  • Downtown Belleville

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri (PPSLR) has provided high quality, supportive health care in the region since 1932. PPSLR is the area leader in sexual and reproductive health care, providing contraception, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, education, and other services to tens of thousands of women, men, and young people each year. Patients can make appointments online or by phone at 1-800-230-PLAN (7526).

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Contact: Jesse Lawder

[email protected]

314-531-7526 ext. 307