Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
STD Surveillance Network (SSuN) - Chlamydia (CT), gonorrhea (GC), and syphilis are nationally reportable curable bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STDs). In 2017, 2.3 million cases of STDs were reported nationally to the CDC, a 35% increase from 2013. The Florida STD program reported over 140,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis from both public and private providers, a 31% increase from 2013. Reported STD cases do not provide a complete picture of the vulnerable populations impacted due to asymptomatic infections, unreported cases, and missing demographic and risk information. To effectively reduce the burden of STDs in Florida, particularly among adolescents and young adults, minority populations and pregnant women, the STD program plans to significantly improve the functionality of the STD Surveillance and Reporting System (STARS). If granted the opportunity to continue to be a part of the STD Surveillance Network, the Florida STD Program will identify significant gaps and missed opportunities for STD and HIV prevention services. Throughout the five-year grant period, the STD Program plans to integrate comprehensive, collaborative, innovative and efficient surveillance activities statewide which will enable Florida to further strengthen STD surveillance capacity. This includes the continuation of both facility and population-based sentinel surveillance with the addition of intermittent patient surveys, HIV registry matching, and short-term activities to identify the burden of STDs and to subsequently advance the state’s STD Program surveillance efforts. Proposed facility-based and case-based population surveillance strategies and activities will address the problem statement in the following ways: 1) Obtain at least 3% of completed enhanced case-based investigations conducted throughout the state 2) Enhance procedures that result in high-quality surveillance data in a timely manner; 3) Improve the quality of case-based data collection through interoperability of clinical management applications and STARS to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the clinical characteristics of target populations; 4) Estimate screening coverage rates and prevalence of vulnerable populations, including adolescents, young adults and MSM, served by STD specialty clinics; 5) Improve timely monitoring of STD/HIV clinical and preventative services. This includes monitoring trends in HIV status, PrEP/PEP referrals and usage; and 6) Disseminate findings through STD/HIV related journals, publications, reports, health departments, providers and key community stakeholders. Evaluation and performance measurement activities will enable the STD Program Office to assess the impact of the SSuN activities have on the jurisdiction’s overall STD surveillance infrastructure. Through existing and proposed quality assurance measures, the STD Program Office will have the needed capacity and flexibility to continuously evaluate quality improvements and make needed operational changes. To achieve the expected SSuN outcomes, processes will be monitored on a daily, biweekly, monthly and quarterly basis. Key personnel expected to participate in this project along with the robust surveillance system exhibit that Florida’s STD Program is well-designed, positioned, trained, and educated to successfully accomplish the goals and outcomes outlined for this project.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).