The application is in support of sentinel and enhanced surveillance for STIs by improving demographic, behavioral, clinical, and preventive services data quality in the District of Columbia. - The purpose of DC Health’s proposal is to support sentinel and enhanced surveillance for STIs providing complete demographics, behavioral risk, clinical and preventive services data missing in routine case reporting. Surveillance activities will fill gaps in missing information and improve knowledge regarding STI/HIV prevention priorities. These data will improve DC Health’s ability to address health equity outcomes and syndemic interactions across populations. DC Health activities under the proposal are designed to address STI surveillance through the following strategies: 1) Protocol-based sentinel surveillance in collaborating STI/Sexual Health Clinics, 2) Protocol-based enhanced STI case surveillance in defined geographic areas, and 3) Doxy PEP Monitoring/Evaluation. The overall impact of these strategies will be a more robust public health system for monitoring STI trends and clinical outcomes as well as a more responsive system for addressing sexual health needs. Long-term clinical and health outcomes associated with the proposed effort include the following: 1) Improved ascertainment of patient characteristics, clinical services, diagnoses, laboratory testing, treatments prescribed/provided to patients, 2) Improved provider compliance with screening, treatment, and preventive service recommendations, 3) Improved ability to understand health equity outcomes across multiple demographic and behavioral groups, 4) Improved and timely ascertainment of co-infections among gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV, and mpox, 5)Improved data quality and the ability to integrate, visualize, and report information across data systems and conditions, 6) Improved ability to ascertain and respond to emergent issues of concern in STI surveillance, 7) Improved ability to ascertain co-factors affecting access to preventive services, and 8) Improved understanding of those taking doxy PEP and how to reduce barriers to taking doxy PEP.
