Today, President Biden released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget proposal which can be found here. The $6 trillion proposal allocates a total of $1.6 trillion to the Department of Health and Human Services to focus on building a healthy America. Within the CDC, this proposal level-funds the Division of STD Prevention (DSTDP), as well as the Division of Hepatitis Prevention, and the Division of Adolescent and School Health.  An increase of $100 million is requested for the Ending the HIV Initiative within the Division of HIV Prevention, Opioids and Infectious Disease would receive a $6.5 million increase in the proposed budget.

The budget also includes an additional $275 million for community-based organizations to expand HIV prevention services in EHE communities, to support public health professionals in EHE jurisdictions and increase self-testing and self-specimen collection for HIV and potentially sexually transmitted infections (STIs) nationwide.

While the budget provides the same level of funding as last year for DSTDP, the Biden Administration did recently announce a $200 million a year for five years to rebuild the DIS workforce, which will be allocated directly to the STD grantees through DSTDP. While we are excited for the new DIS funding injected into our field by the administration, we need more! COVID-19 severely impacted our fight against STDs by disrupting care, treatment and especially contact tracing. Now more than ever, we need more and not less resources to focus on STDs. We will continue to advocate to Congress for additional resources to fight the second raging pandemic facing this country – the rise in STD cases.

It is important to note that the President’s budget is just a proposal, and while important as a starting point for funding negotiations, it does not carry the force of law. Just because the President did not include an increase, does not mean there won’t be one this year. We are continuing to fight and advocate to meet the great need of our members in the STD field.

We will be sure to keep our membership updated as more is known about the President’s budget proposal.