Strenthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nations Health - Category B: Workforce at State, Local and Territorial Health Departments - NASTAD (National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors) proposes to develop and lead a first-of-its-kind, integrated Syndemic Technical Assistance Center (SynTAC) with expertise across HIV, viral hepatitis (VH), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Tuberculosis (TB), and drug user health (DUH) to strengthen the capacity of governmental public health departments to effectively respond to converging public health crises and intersecting social determinants of health. The proposed project provides capacity building assistance (CBA) support to the infectious disease (ID) governmental public health workforce within state, local, and territorial governmental public health departments under Category B. Specifically, the proposed technical assistance (TA) center is designed to a) provide syndemic training and technical assistance to orient and strengthen the expertise of the public health workforce at health departments, b) implement professional development training and support to recruit and sustain a diverse infectious disease workforce, and c) policy analysis to promote evidence-based and innovative practices for improving health equity and overall syndemic approaches and outcomes. NASTAD will provide syndemic focused CBA in three of the five identified strategic priorities—the primary strategic area and population of focus will be the (a) workforce, followed by b) organizational capacity and performance improvement, and c) policy and programs. NASTAD will build on its existing support for HIV, VH, STI, and harm reduction programs to assess priority TA needs across identified areas and deliver useful and effective products and CBA supports to assure that project deliverables are met. The outlined strategies are designed to develop and maintain a diverse workforce in governmental public health departments and will provide CBA to establish or enhance cross-cutting skills and competencies necessary to be responsive across syndemics—while prioritizing the well-being of the individuals making up the workforce. NASTAD’s SynTAC will employ a range of training and TA strategies and activities, based on existing models and best practices, to ensure achievement of the outcomes of this project across the spectrum of adult learning needs. Within the project period of performance (08/01/24-07/31/29), the following strategies will be deployed: • Strategy A. NASTAD will assess the needs and capacity of the ID public health workforce to respond to the syndemic of HIV, VH, STIs, the impact of infectious diseases on PWUD, and their intersections with racial/health equity and the social determinants of health. • Strategy B. NASTAD will establish a multi-modal Syndemic Technical Assistance Center to strengthen the capacity of the infectious disease public health workforce to respond to the syndemic of HIV, VH, STIs, the impact of infectious diseases on PWUD, and their intersection with social determinants of health through the delivery of direct technical assistance consultations, peer-to-peer learning communities, webinars, guidance materials, and other resources. • Strategy C. NASTAD will support jurisdictions to assess legal and policy facilitators and barriers and their impacts on successful implementation of syndemic approaches. • Strategy D. NASTAD will collaborate with governmental public health departments and other key stakeholders to disseminate project resources and promote the replication of findings and lessons learned from SynTAC.
