Dear Colleagues,

Today, CDC’s Division of STD Prevention (DSTDP) issued a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) –Strengthening STD Prevention and Control for Health Departments, or STD PCHD.

CDC’s STD prevention program funding is a one-of-a-kind; CDC is the only federal agency to fund state, territorial, and local health departments to monitor, prevent, and control STDs. The new five-year cooperative agreement will start January 1, 2019 and end December 31, 2023. The 59 health department recipients will share an estimated 2019 funding of $95,000,000, with awards ranging from $300,000 to over $7,000,000.

Our goal remains the same – to keep Americans healthy through STD prevention, and by ensuring funds reach the people and places that need them most. Over the next five years, funding will support strategies and activities to:

• Eliminate congenital syphilis
• Prevent antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea
• Reduce primary and secondary syphilis
• Prevent infertility and other negative reproductive health outcomes
• Address STD-related outbreaks
• Reduce STD-related health disparities
• Support STD-related HIV prevention

The new NOFO focuses on DSTDP’s three priority populations: pregnant women; adolescents and young adults; and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM). STD PCHD will also support new strategies to:

• Enhance surveillance
• Establish public health programs to help ensure delivery of recommended gonorrhea and syphilis treatment
• Promote quality care in STD specialty care clinics

STD PCHD builds on the important work done under the current funding cycle, Improving Sexually Transmitted Disease Programs through Assessment, Assurance, Policy Development, and Prevention Strategies, or STD AAPPS. STD AAPPS charted a new course for health department STD programs to operate within today’s complex healthcare and public health landscapes. Significant gains were made in surveillance and IT infrastructure, HIV and STD coordination, strategic partnerships, data utilization, and evaluation.

STD PCHD is fine-tuned, focused, and flexible. CDC worked with a contractor to evaluate STD AAPPS and identify what was and was not working. We used this information to inform the development of STD PCHD. Importantly, the NOFO’s framework is now organized to better align strategies with how health departments operate day-to-day, and analyze and use data for program improvement.

The work carried out by our health departments is essential to preventing and controlling the spread of STDs within our communities. However, the work that STD PCHD supports ultimately works best when it involves everyone. Collaboration is highly encouraged – whether it be at the national, state, or local level or with our non-governmental partners.

CDC will continue to work closely with recipients over the course of the new funding cycle.

Additional information can be found on CDC’s STD PCHD webpage. As always, thank you for your continued dedication to STD prevention.

Best Regards,

Gail Bolan, MD
Director, Division of STD Prevention
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Stay in touch with the Division of STD Prevention by following @CDCSTD on Twitter and by liking CDC STD on Facebook.