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 Office of Sexual Health and Epidemiology (OSHE) in New York State's Department of Health is using the power and accuracy of modeling to predict outbreak trends for common STIs (gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia). Modeling, along with monthly heat maps that display observed increases, helped OSHE successfully predict STI upticks throughout the state in 2020 and 2021, and social determinants of health maps developed from the technology are helping disease intervention specialists (DIS) at public health departments around the state address local issues affecting the rise in STIs. Now that they are pivoting away from COVID-19 prevention, tracking, and treatment efforts, DIS are using these tools to directly focus on driving STI rates back down.