Ottawa Public Health has challenged Algonquin and three other post-secondary schools in Ottawa to break a Guinness World Record on March 29.
But to be number one, students will first have to go number one.
The goal of the challenge, titled Pee to See, is to break the current Guinness World Record for the most chlamydia and gonorrhea urine tests completed within 24 hours in a single venue.
The record is currently held by the SU Wellness Centre at the University of Calgary, where 502 sexual health screenings took place on April 3, 2014.
Breaking a Guinness World Record is only one of the goals of Pee to See, according to its project coordinator, Christiane Bouchard.
“The increasing rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia in young people between the ages of 15 and 29 is of concern to us,” said Bouchard, who works in the Healthy Sexuality and Risk Reduction unit of Ottawa Public Health. “We need to remove the stigma associated with testing, and (we) thought that by making this a fun event, we could probably engage more young people.”
Carleton University, La Cité Collègiale, and University of Ottawa will also participate in Pee to See on March 29.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Carol Hopky, a registered nurse with Algonquin’s Health Services. Hopky hopes that students choose to get tested despite the stigma surrounding STIs.
“Some people have a view that if you have an (STI), you might be ‘dirty’ or ‘unclean’,” said Hopky.
Approximately 50 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women who have chlamydia don’t experience symptoms.
More information about STIs is available on Ottawa Public Health’s websites gettestedwhynot.ca and sexitsmart.ca.