Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health, released the FY 2018 funding opportunity announcement for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), focused on funding programs to prevent unplanned teen pregnancy. The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) is concerned by the removal of evidence-based strategies and new emphasis on sexual risk avoidance (abstinence-only) programs. The FOA deemphasizes the needs of young people, including LGBTQ youth, and no longer includes requirements for grantees to facilitate access to youth-friendly sexual health services. We expect this programmatic shift to have a negative impact on adolescent STD prevention efforts nationally due to the singular focus on abstinence as a prevention strategy.

NCSD stands with our members and partners who promote high quality sexual and reproductive health care, especially for young people who bear an inordinate burden of the STD epidemics in this country. We will continue to monitor this and other programmatic shifts released from the Administration.