SexINFO

Background

Youth, and in particular young African Americans, are at an alarmingly high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 25%, or 3.2 million teenage girls in the U.S. have at least one STD, with the highest prevalence is among African American teen girls, 48% of which have at least one STD [1].

Whether one approves or not, youth are having sex, which puts them at risk for STDs and unwanted pregnancies, and can also have other unintended effects on their health and well being. Youth need access to accurate information and health care, not just for early treatment, but for prevention as well.

Where can youth go for accurate health information? With 85 percent of San Francisco's youth owning a cell phone [2], providing health resources and STD-prevention information via cell phone simply makes sense. Through mobile technology, health care advocates can reach youth with the technology they use most often, and for youth text messaging is confidential and easy.

Organization Mission

SexINFO is an innovative text messaging pilot public health program that allows youth to access health information via their wireless device. By providing basic health facts along with contact information for health care clinics, SexINFO aims to decrease rates of STD transmission among at-risk urban youth. By texting "sexinfo" to 61827, youth can interface with a helpful set of answers to key questions about safer sex, HIV, STDs and pregnancy.

Launched in 2006, San Francisco's SexINFO program is the first program of its kind in the U.S. This pilot has the potential to influence the way public health advocates throughout the country connect at-risk youth to health care services.

SexINFO was designed by health educators at I.S.I.S., Inc. with funding from the San Francisco Department of Public Health's (SFDPH) STD Prevention and Control division, and programmed by Hip Cricket.

Full Circle Fund Role

Full Circle Fund's Technology Circle has partnered with the SFDPH and I.S.I.S. to build awareness of the SexINFO product and increase usage in order to support the expansion of this ground0breaking mobile product.

Impact

Over the course of two-year grant, Full Circle Fund's partnership on SexINFO has already had significant results:

• Produced and distributed a dynamic slate of PSAs about SexINFO featuring renown Bay Area rap artist Mistah F.A.B. The PSAs ran in the San Francisco Bay Are on TV stations like BET and MTV as well as radio and outdoor media, from Fall 2007 through Winter 2008. In just the three months of the PSA launch in 2007, SexInfo saw a 300 percent increase in the number of people using the service.
• Was key sponsor of Sex::Tech: Focus on Youth Conference in San Francisco in January 2008. Sex::Tech was the first conference held with a focus on technology, sexual health, and youth voices and youth culture.
• Performed usability testing that involved targeted youth in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood and resulted in substantial improvements to the product's overall functionality.
• Helped to create a mobile wapsite (m.sextext.org) and mashup proposal designed to move the SexINFO product from alpha to beta, which will position it for replication in other North American metro markets.
• Contributed to SexINFO's impressive PR milestones, including its recognition as the 2007 Techie Award Winner, presented by grassroots.org at the prestigious Nonprofit Technology Conference; and a 2008 Webby Award Winner, in the Mobile Category.

Sources:

¹ Oral Abstract D4a – Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Bacterial Vaginosis among Female Adolescents in the United States, Data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003-2004
² Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use (PDF), Sheila Kinkade and Katrin Verclas, UN Foundation–Vodafone Group Foundation Partnership, 2008

NAME: SexINFO
LOCATION: San Francisco
WEB: sextextsf.org
GRANT TERM: 2006-2008
TEAM LEAD: Marc Smolowitz