State health department promotes safe sex by going to clubs

The Utah Department of Health (DOH) has begun to offer free testing and counselling services for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The move is part of the DOH's push to educate minorities on the benefits of condom use and testing services.

Latinos in particular have less access to sexual health statistics and education programs, according to the newspaper.

In response to this imbalance, the department is sending representatives to bars and nightclubs, where they offer free exams for HIV, counselling for people who have or are at risk for STDs and even safe sex-related gifts.

While a band played a song titled "Put on the Hat," the DOH members handed out free condoms and offered a prize for whoever could guess the number of lubricant packets in a large glass jar, the news source added.

Hispanic Americans often have higher rates of STDs than whites or other minorities. Those who suspect that they have contracted a sexual infection may consider investing in online testing services in order to determine the state of their sexual health.

In the U.S., Hispanics adults have three times the rate of gonorrhea and 10 times the rate of congenital syphilis that whites do, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.