Remember Only You Can Prevent

STIs & STDs, are spreads just like a wildfire but like a forest fire it can be prevented.

STIs, including syphilis, gonorrhea, increasing globally: WHO
The number of new syphilis cases rose to 8 million in 2022, the report found.
ABC News
By Mary Kekatos
May 21, 2024

The number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) around the world is increasing and is a "major concern" for health officials, according to a new report published Tuesday from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report found four curable STIs -- chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and trichomoniasis -- are responsible for more than 1 million infections daily among adults between ages 15 and 49. Cases of syphilis, in particular, have been rising rapidly.

The number of new syphilis cases among adults between ages 15 and 49 increased from 7.1 million in 2020 to 8 million in 2022, according to the report.

I was Trans volunteer at a health clinic helping trans people with their name and documents changes, they also did testing and I can tell you the AIDS, STIs, and STDs consular were not happy to tell people their status, it was very stressful telling clients their status.

STDs are surging. The funding to fight them is not.
 

The latest figures follow Congress’ decision last month to provide far less funding to sexual health clinics that provide free and subsidized testing.

CDC facing major funding cuts, with direct impact on state and local health departments
CNN

By Deidre McPhillips and Brenda Goodman

July 14, 2023

Last month, a local health department in Texas received notification that a pregnant woman living in the area had tested positive for syphilis and had fallen behind on her ob/gyn care. It was a troubling situation, one that has become increasingly common as sexually transmitted infection cases surge both locally and nationally.

Within days, a disease intervention specialist — a core public health employee who helps with contact tracing, screening, health education and linking people to treatment — got to work on the case. They were able to find the woman, reconnect her to prenatal care services and start treatment for syphilis, keeping her healthy and preventing severe outcomes for the fetus.

[...]

 

But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is poised to lose about $1.3 billion in funds as a result of last month’s federal debt ceiling negotiation that were initially allocated through Covid-19 supplemental funding, the agency shared with CNN. An earlier estimate from the Congressional Budget Office estimated the impact on CDC to be closer to $1.5 billion, but there is ongoing analysis about exactly which dollars could be rescinded.

The grant that funded those disease intervention specialists across the country was one of the first things to be rescinded. The last two years of the five-year grant were slashed across the board, a more than $400 million blow.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation writes,

San Francisco AIDS Foundation is greatly alarmed by the proposed fiscal year 2024 cuts to HIV funding in the Federal budget by the Republican-led Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriation Subcommittee.  

The bill proposes eliminating all $220 million in funding for the CDC’s Ending the HIV Epidemics’ program, reducing the total CDC National Center on HIV, Hepatitis, STDs, and Tuberculosis by $226 million, cutting the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund by $32 million, reducing total funding for the National Institutes of Health by $3.8 billion, and reducing Ryan White Care Program funding by $238 million. Overall, the bill proposes an 18% cut to the Centers for Disease Control and a 12% cut to Health and Human Services.

My theory is that the Republican evangelical base expects everyone to keep their legs crossed until marriage... so only the sinners get STIs.