At a glance
Jurisdictions are leaning into targeted STI prevention and treatment strategies by focusing on the needs and interests of local communities and delivering partnerships invested in meeting people where they are.
October 2022
The HIV, STD, and Hepatitis Section of New Mexico's Department of Health (NMDOH) created a strategy for recruitment and retention of its Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) workforce by developing a career pathway that rewards their hard work, dedication and specialized skills and expertise related to infectious disease. There are now three distinct types of DIS with increasing responsibilities who are grouped into three different state government pay bands. In addition to the long-standing Health Educator-Basic (DIS), there are now also Health Educator-Operational (lead DIS who mentor others), and Health Educator-Advanced (DIS with the highest level of interview skills adept at handling the most complex cases including congenital/maternal syphilis, HIV linkage to care, and Hepatitis C virus navigation to treatment). This means that DIS who develop expertise can stay in the field while progressing through state government jobs, with the potential to also be front-line DIS Supervisors and Disease Prevention Program Managers.