The sex tech folks at ISIS have once again teamed up with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and recently unveiled their newest online offering to give San Francisco residents better access, greater convenience, and easier choices in personal STD testing for people at risk for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV and herpes.

The confidential online testing resource, www.STDTest.org makes it incredibly easy to download lab slips, find an anonymous testing site near them and get tested for all of the above mentioned STDs. If your test results are negative you can get them online within 3-5 days. If you have a positive result someone from the Department of Public Health will call to help you find appropriate treatment, support, and/or resources. The entire service, including the testing is free.

Like most of the ISIS solutions STDTest.org is simple and straightforward. It also engages users in unique ways. I particularly like what they’re doing to keep the service free. Users on the site are invited to “pay it forward” by donating to the site when the use the service so others who genuinely can’t afford the testing will always be able to use the service free of charge. They have a display of how many people have used the service, for how many tests, and the amount of money that has been donated.

In an ideal world I’d much rather have people getting test results in person with a trained counselor. But in the real world it’s precisely that kind of face to face experience that stops many from ever getting tested in the first place. Using technology smartly, STDTest.org removes barriers for some people and, hopefully, increases their ability to make smart decisions about their own sexual health.