Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are the most prevalent infections in the United States (U.S.), resulting in significant morbidity and increased mortality among those infected [ [1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Sexually transmitted disease surveillance 2018. ]. Adolescents and young adults, aged 15–24 years, are disproportionately affected. Although they represent about one-fourth of the sexually active population in the U.S., they account for an estimated 50% of the national annual reported cases of STIs [ [2] Kreisel K.M. Spicknall I.H. Gargano J.W. et al. Sexually transmitted infections among US women and men: Prevalence and Incidence Estimates, 2018. ]. Among these young people, multiple marginalized groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth; young women; and Black, Latino/a, and other youth of color, persistently experience an unacceptably high proportion of the annual reported STI cases [ [1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Sexually transmitted disease surveillance 2018. ]. Adolescent and young adult health and medicine clinicians, researchers, and educators have consistently played a pivotal role in providing prevention education, skills training, and screening and treatment of STIs; however, these efforts have not led to sustained reductions in STIs. Consequently, with the increasingly high rates of these preventable infections in young people, there is a renewed sense of urgency to redouble efforts to create new and sustained opportunities for more inclusive and equitable sexual health prevention and education, health care access, testing, and treatment for young people, irrespective of age, sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual experience, ability, or geographic location. Such an approach should also account for the overall health and well-being of young people with concerted attention to the social and environmental context in which they live and socialize. Even in the face of current challenges to STI screening and treatment posed by the COVID-19 pandemic [ [3] Reorienting routine adolescent sexually transmitted infection screening in a COVID-19 pandemic. , [4] Haamid F.W. Bonny A.E. Holland-Hall C. Protecting adolescents during a sexually transmitted infection testing shortage: An Additional challenge during a Global pandemic. ], young people are in need of confidential supportive sexual health care and education, including STI prevention, screening, and treatment.