Dean Vincent Guilamo-Ramos and Associates in Research Adam Benzekri and Marco Thimm-Kaiser co-authored the editorial "Capitalizing on Missed Opportunities for Sexual Health Workforce Development by Adoption of a Sexual Health Paradigm" for the "American Journal of Public Health (AJPH)." Ramos is the founder and director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH), and Benzekri serves as project director and psychologist and Thimm-Kaiser as epidemiologist. 

Excerpt

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), a longstanding problem for Americans, were characterized as a hidden epidemic in a 1997 Institute of Medicine report. More than two decades later, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) have revisited the topic and released "Sexually Transmitted Infections: Adopting a Sexual Health Paradigm," a consensus study report with recommendations for responding to persistently high, increasing, and now record-level rates of reported STIs. Despite more than two decades of separation, the two reports discuss surprisingly similar key problems. STIs remain a major cause of morbidity, disproportionately affecting younger persons and having lifelong consequences. Reportable STI rates have increased since 1997, and the latest data reflect an all-time high. Estimates suggest that approximately one in five people in the United States had an STI on any given day in 2018. Although the STI burden is increasing across all population groups, adolescents and young adults, women, men who have sex with men, and other groups underserved by mainstream health and public health systems remain disproportionately affected. Therefore, the dire need for increased public health attention and resources for addressing the “hidden epidemic” of STIs persists today.

The lack of progress in STI prevention and control is owing to longstanding underinvestment in the broader public health system and its workforce, as highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) inflation-adjusted budget for STI prevention decreased by 40% since 2003. This underinvestment has contributed to the deterioration of the STI focused public health infrastructure, programming, and workforce, including unmet staffing needs in state and local STI programs and declining availability of public health STI specialty clinics, an important safety net for individuals without health insurance.

We draw on the National Academies’ new report to outline a roadmap for rebuilding and expanding a workforce that is equipped for effective STI prevention and control, thereby addressing a missed opportunity from more than two decades ago: investing in STIs and sexual health as a public health priority.

Supportive Materials 

For more on this topic, check out the videos from National Academics of Sciences that feature Ramos and DUSON: "What is Sexual Health?" and "We Need More Awareness On Sexual Health | Adopting A Sexual Health Paradigm." 

Citation

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Adam Benzekri, Marco Thimm-Kaiser, Amy Geller, Aimee Mead, Charlotte Gaydos, Edward Hook, and Cornelis Rietmeijer, 0: Capitalizing on Missed Opportunities for Sexual Health Workforce Development by Adoption of a Sexual Health Paradigm. American Journal of Public Health 0, e1_e4, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306492