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.
May 2024
Staff in the Disease Intervention and Response Branch in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention recently partnered with the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDoH) to scale up sexually transmitted infection (STI) disease intervention throughout PRDoH’s nine regions. The partnership focused on increasing collaboration and streamlining syphilis case management among PRDoH regional disease intervention specialist (DIS) teams. PRDoH DIS conducted comprehensive evaluations with the CDC subject matter experts (SMEs) to develop training sessions specific to Puerto Rico’s unique culture and STI prevention and treatment needs. The SMEs provided in-person skills-building interview practice sessions and syphilis case management training in Spanish to DIS at six PRDoH clinics in September 2022 and April 2023. They continued the training sessions virtually between October and December 2023. The collaboration focused on enhancing communication skills, honing investigative techniques, and increasing the level of urgency for syphilis investigations. PRDoH has put these skills into practice to bolster the impact of their disease intervention activities—local DIS now close most documented cases within 30-45 days.