Monday, April 28, 2025
4/28/2025
Full STOP: Supporting STD Prevention Programs and Enhancing Outreach to Priority Populations - Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major sexual and public health problem in the United States. Each year, there are more than 20 million new cases of (STIs) in the country, and the overall number of STIs has been steadily increasing. These infections are not only a serious health concern, but they also have a significant economic impact, costing the U.S. billions of dollars each year in medical care, prevention, and lost productivity. STIs can also lead to long-term health problems, including infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, increased risk of HIV infection, and even death. Special populations (e.g. adolescents, LGBTQ persons, gay and bisexual men, and communities of color) are at an increased risk of contracting STIs due to a variety of factors, such as lack of access to healthcare, low socioeconomic status, stigma, and lack of education about STIs. Therefore, extra attention needs to be paid to these populations to ensure they have access to the resources they need to prevent and treat STIs. However, public health clinics and service providers need help in communicating and educating the public. Improvements in the ability of STI programs to share information, strategies, and best practices could greatly strengthen the efforts and effectiveness of STI prevention and testing initiatives. In cooperation with the CDC, the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) intends to support and improve STI communication and education capacity of CDC-funded state, territorial, and local STI/HIV programs and to help increase the reach of messaging to priority populations by expanding collaborations with other partners within the health system and the community. The strategies and activities proposed by ASHA feature multiple components of assistance, including information- and resource-sharing for professionals, STI/HIV programs, and related organizations; capacity-building focused on communications and messaging for priority populations; and technical assistance on effective use of social media to reach target audiences most impacted by health disparities with timely and culturally-appropriate messaging and information about emerging STI issues. ASHA specializes in communications outreach to the public, patients, press, provides, and policy makers and has provided support to the CDC in addressing emerging issues for more than 40 years. By building upon ASHA’s extensive national partnership network, expanding it to include additional CDC-funded and non-CDC-funded programs and organizations, and furthering the use of established communications channels, the CDC and its partners can more nimbly advance national STI prevention objectives aimed at expanding the reach of STI prevention and testing messaging for priority populations. Expected short-term outcomes from project include: - Increased understanding of communication gaps with STI/HIV programs among relevant interests among affected communities - Increased awareness and knowledge of timely and relevant CDC STI/HIV issues among priority audiences An expected intermediate outcome by the end of the project performance period is: - Increased engagement with CDC STI/HIV program priority areas among partners The project would be implemented from September 2023 to August 2028. Products and tools developed under the project would be archived and accessible beyond the end date of the CDC cooperative agreement.
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).