Columbus Public Health is partnering with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), Ohio State University (OSU) and CDC to collect, integrate and disseminate data describing the high burden of STIs . - Columbus Public Health (CPH) is partnering with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), Ohio State University (OSU) and CDC to collect, integrate and disseminate data describing the high burden of STIs in Central Ohio. We also propose to use STI and HIV surveillance data in near-to-real-time to enhance direct services in our jurisdiction. The STI and HIV Prevention continuums require that we monitor and assess preventive efforts, as well as burden of infection. Thus, CPH will focus on measures related to PrEP and doxyPEP. CPH also will gather information on STI/HIV health equity outcomes, emergent threats and syndemic interactions in populations with shared risks. And more specifically, CPH will monitor burden of infections with racial, ethnic, gender and sexual minority populations. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Ohio constitute a profound public health burden. State surveillance data from 2022, the most recent year for which state-level data are published, indicate that the region experienced 5,306 syphilis cases (45.0 cases per 100,000) and 22,987 gonorrhea cases (195.1 per 100,000).3 Of those, Franklin County accounted for the highest number of cases, with 31% of all syphilis cases and 20% of all gonorrhea cases for the state. According to state surveillance analyses, Central Ohio reported 211 new HIV diagnoses in 2021 (10.1 per 100,000), and Franklin County accounted for 89.6% of all Central Ohio HIV cases.4 Franklin County is an Ending the HIV Epidemic high priority county. In addition to high STI/HIV rates, profound racial, ethnic, gender and sexual minority disparities also exist for all STIs. We propose to implement strategies that maximize analysis of new and existing data, leverage and extend existing data systems, strengthen long-standing public health partnerships across the jurisdiction, and enhance bidirectional data sharing between CPH, ODH, and CDC. CPH shall routinely transmit to CDC uniquely-identified case, investigation and clinic visit records, including information obtained through HIV surveillance registry matches, in specified formats and intervals. These activities include: (A) conducting protocol-based sentinel surveillance in CPH’s Sexual Health Clinic; (B) implementing protocol-based, enhanced care-based STI surveillance using state STI and HIV surveillance data; and (C) improving the efficiency of Strategy B patient interviews by assessing the effectiveness of these approaches each quarter. We will perform assessments to evaluate interview completeness factors, such as times of day and days of the week of patients and providers being contacted, age and demographic differences between completed and incomplete interviews, and the impact of making first contact by SMS rather than phone, as well as piloting self-completed patient interviews. CPH seeks to increase access to high quality, comprehensive STI and HIV services; increase the understanding of epidemiological factors associated with increased STI and HIV incidence and prevalence at the local and national level; increase adherence to STI and HIV screening and treatment guidelines; and to promote evidence-based approaches to improve sexual health. We believe that data from our Midwestern jurisdiction will bring geographic diversity. We further believe that participation in SSuN will support the collection, integration, and dissemination of data that will improve sexual health in our jurisdiction.
