GYT: Get Yourself Tested

This initiative draws on entertainment to reduce the spread of STDs among young people by normalising communication and testing. Playing off mobile and Web slang in many young people's everyday vernacular, such as "OMG" and "LOL," GYT is meant to provide simple strategies for young people to talk about sexual health and getting tested for STDs. The central hub of the campaign is the interactive, multimedia GYT website, which includes: facts about STDs; talking tips on how to discuss STD testing with partners, parents, and health care providers; and a community toolkit with promotional materials that can be customised and localised. In addition, fans can connect to GYT via Facebook or Twitter. A mobile companion to the GYT website, the GYT short code (498669) provides details about local testing locations to mobile phones when users text their zip code.

GYT runs year-round, with significant promotions in April, National STD Testing Awareness Month. Each year, during that month, special incentives and materials are developed to encourage young people to visit Planned Parenthood health centres and other participating clinics to get tested. For example, in April 2010, GYT rolled out these initiatives:

• Celebs Talk GYT: In a series of on-air and online promotions, celebrities joined the campaign's cast of popular culture personalities spreading the GYT message.
• GYT NOW Campus Challenge: To spur a social movement for students to start talking and to get tested on college campuses around the country, GYT extended a call to young people to commit to getting tested by becoming a fan of GYT and encouraging their peers to do the same. The campus with the largest percentage of their student network to join the GYT Campus Challenge was be featured by MTV News special and highlighted on mtvU. In addition, MTV awarded each of the top 10 recruiters on the winning campus with an all-expenses-paid trip for two and backstage passes to the Too Fast for Love Tour.
• GYT Nation: This on-the-ground outreach effort took GYT to communities across the country. GYT promotional materials, including t-shirts, posters, buttons, and stickers, were distributed to more than 4,000 health centres nationwide, including Planned Parenthood’s network of 840 health centres. The CDC also worked with state and local health departments, the American Social Health Association, and the National Coalition of STD Directors to spread information about the campaign. In addition, the American College Health Association (ACHA) joined the GYT campaign to spread the word and distribute GYT materials through college health centres.
• GYTNOW short code and MTV Movie Awards Sweepstakes: Users of the service during the month of April 2010 became eligible to win a trip for 2 to the 2010 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, California.
• On-air programming: For example, an MTV News segment took viewers into a New York City college to talk to students about STD testing, exploring the importance of knowing your status and offering young people tips on talking about STD testing with partners and doctors. Also, during mtvU "Dean's List" programme, during an hour-long countdown of the music making an impact on the University of Hartford campus, a freshman at that school took over as host of the episode; the audience followed as she got tested for STD, dispelled myths about STDs and testing, and talked to young people about why it is important to GYT in college.

Also, GYT works "on the ground" for specific events, such as the Be Greater Than AIDS: Get Yourself Tested Week, held in the week leading up to National HIV Testing Day (June 27). Calling on Americans, especially young people, to get tested for HIV and other STDs, the event spotlighted 10 cities, where free testing was made available and other special events took place. Young people could log on to the GYT website to find locations offering free HIV testing during the week.

Sexual Health, HIV/AIDS, Youth.

According to GYT, 1 in 2 sexually active young people in the US will acquire an STD by age 25. Of the approximately 19 million new cases of STDs that occur every year in that country, most will go undiagnosed. When left untreated, STDs can lead to an increased risk of HIV infection, infertility and cancer.

In 2009, GYT helped fuel an increase in STD testing among of young people under the age of 25 at Planned Parenthood health centres nationwide, including a 36% increase in the number of male STD testing patients and an 18% increase in the number of female STD testing patients from the previous year in 10 nationally representative Planned Parenthood health centres. These increases were particularly noteworthy in communities of colour, with a 30% increase over 2008 in the number of African-American female STD testing patients and a 20% increase in the number of Latina STD testing patients.