Policy Success Stories
NCSD’s “Success Stories” is a series that promotes policy-based achievements across the STI sector, with the goal of connecting peers and partners who want to replicate, adapt, or learn from shared successes.
Now more than ever, there are a lot of limiting policies circulating around sexual health and STIs. While these are often highlighted the most, there are also programs successfully implementing new policies or protocols that are benefiting their communities. NCSD’s “Success Stories” is a series that promotes policy-based achievements across the STI sector, with the goal of connecting peers and partners who want to replicate, adapt, or learn from shared successes. Success Stories will include a wide range of policies, from communication campaigns to protocol development to state legislation. You can find success stories linked below, along with a short description.
Syphilis Testing in Detention Centers: A Partnership Success Story in Colorado
In 2021, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) wanted to support innovative strategies to help mitigate a public health crisis that has continued to climb nationally: congenital syphilis, the bacterial STI passed from a pregnant person to the fetus.
Community Perspectives on EPT: A Partnership Success Story in New York State
In 2023, the Office of Sexual Health and Epidemiology at the New York State Department of Health, AIDS Institute, conducted focus groups to learn more about community perspectives on Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT). The conversations helped launch a new campaign and were the inspiration for rebranding the term EPT to make it more accessible for broad patient populations.
STI and Hepatitis B Advisory Group: A Partnership Success Story in Washington State
Snohomish County, Washington didn’t have a free STI clinic for 14 years. This suburban community north of Seattle was one of many jurisdictions across the U.S. whose public health infrastructure endured significant budget cuts, and the consequences from this loss were staggering. Since the county’s clinic closed, the case rate for gonorrhea more than quadrupled. This all changed after Washington’s STI and Hepatitis B Legislative Advisory Group developed a report for combating out-of-control STI epidemics, which, among other successes, was used by the legislature to support funding for a new STI clinic in Snohomish County.
Leveraging Policy Change with Providers: A Partnership Success Story in Oklahoma
Since 2018, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) has partnered with the Denver Prevention Training Center to host in-person symposiums for providers on syphilis. These symposiums have been opportunities to educate a wide range of individuals offering health care services in Oklahoma about rises in syphilis cases, particularly among pregnant women. After the success of initial symposiums, the passage of SB292 led to a particularly impactful symposium for OSDH. By capitalizing on the unique confluence of policy change and high morbidity data, OSDH hosted a successful symposium that mobilized more providers to prioritize syphilis testing.