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Chlamydia testing at Fieldays
21 June 2010
By Ruth Larsen
A low uptake of chlamydia testing among male visitors to Waikato’s Fieldays is unlikely to deter Hamilton’s Pharmacy 547 from offering a similar service next year.
The pharmacy has operated a stand at the yearly agricultural event for three years, but this year was the first in which chlamydia testing was offered to male attendees aged 18-30 in association with Waikato Sexual Health and Pathlab Waikato.
Pharmacy owner Ian McMichael says the team took some 200 urine test kits to administer on the stand, but only four men took part.
However Mr McMichael was not disheartened by this result. He believes the four-day event which attracts some 120,000 visitors is the right place to target the at-risk group of young males, many of whom may be asymptomatic carriers of the sexually transmitted disease.
“When you looked around the place it was full of young men, and a lot of young Maori men.”
Studies have shown one in 10 young men and one in five Maori young men could be infected, he says.
Mr McMichael says these men are not going to their GPs and pharmacy is the ideal place for them to be treated.
Getting out to events such as Fieldays is an important way for the pharmacy to reach more people,” he says.
“It’s fun. It takes us out of our normal zone. It’s a great way to look at doing things.”
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