Sharing knowledge: Community members gathered to hear about the STI machines and how they work.
Photo by
Shannon Colee
For the past five weeks, Echuca library has been home to an STI testing vending machine as part of a University of Melbourne health project.
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Due to STI rates growing faster in rural communities and access to treatment being even more limited in those places, a team at the University of Melbourne wanted to try a more “innovative solution” to help quell the problem.
Ready to help: Sexual health nurse Claire Randall, senior health promotion manager for Hume and project lead Dr Dave Evans, Mayor Rob Amos and principal adviser Clare Thurman attended the launch of the STI machine.
Photo by
Shannon Colee
“People are able to access it when and where they want, so if you can't get a GP appointment for three or four weeks you can come in and get (tested) tomorrow,” said project lead Dr Dave Evans.
The tests are dispensed from the machine in small, brown boxes and then people are asked to follow a few simple steps such as collecting a urine or blood sample before posting it back to the university.
Giving details: Project lead Dr Dave Evans explains the testing process and what people are expected to do.
Photo by
Shannon Colee
They then test the sample and get in touch with people regarding the results.
Although similar STI test machines have been deployed in cities, this is the first time this approach has been applied in a rural setting anywhere in the world.
Dr Evans said Echuca was not chosen due to STI rates, which compared to other regional places, wasn’t a standout number, but rather because of the region’s history in being “a bit progressive”.
“When we supported rolling out condom dispensing machines eight or so years ago, Echuca was one of the first councils to come on board for that. So there’s the enthusiasm in this space for trying new things here,” he said.
He said the location of Echuca for not being “really conveniently close to Bendigo or Shepparton” and having very few GPs made it a good place to try out this project.
Dr Evans said the community embracing the machine, thinking it worked well and using it when needed would be considered a win rather than anything related to the data they collect regarding positive or negative cases.
“We’ve budgeted roughly for about 400 tests across five locations over the next year — even if we surpass that, that's great. It's more about if everyone’s saying they love it and we start getting people who haven’t tested before,” he said.
The machine was chosen to be placed in the Echuca library to help accommodate privacy as much as possible.
Later this year, there will be machines installed in Swan Hill, Mildura, Shepparton and Wangaratta.
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