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The National Chlamydia Coalition is now on Facebook. To follow the NCC, simply visit our page and click the "like" button. Don't forget to share it with your friends and colleagues!

NCC to Co-Sponsor Webinar: Opportunities for Health Plans to Improve Chlamydia Screening

Research indicates that insurance coverage and access to care do not necessarily result in higher chlamydia screening rates. The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation and the NCC invite you to participate in an important webinar on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1 p.m. (EDT). Opportunities for Health Plans to Improve Chlamydia Screening will address the patient and provider barriers to chlamydia screening, as well as an overview of chlamydia in the U.S., the current state of screening, and opportunities to improve screening rates going forward. Registration and agenda are available on NIHCM Foundation's website. Please register by noon (EDT) on June 1, 2011.

NIHCM is also sponsoring another upcoming and important webinar: Partnering to Promote Health Equity for Adolescents. Check out the NIHCM Foundation's website for more details.

On May 12, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services launched its plan to prevent and treat viral hepatitis, a silent epidemic affecting 3.5 - 5.3 million Americans. Viral Hepatitis is also the leading cause of liver cancer. Combating the Silent Epidemic: US Department of Health and Human Services Action Plan for the Prevention, Care and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis outlines a comprehensive approach to raise awareness about viral hepatitis and creates more opportunities to train health professionals to deliver comprehensive services for what is often a vaccine-preventable infection. The plan invites active participation from all sectors. For more information on viral hepatitis, see http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy's brochure, Careful, Current, and Consistent: Tips to Improve Contraceptive Use, provides 12 tips for healthcare providers to use to improve contraceptive counseling with their clients, particularly for younger clients. These tips include: demonstrate the "key three" attributes of effective counselors, address all four facets of contraception, and make choosing a method manageable.  The full report of an extensive literature review on contraceptive behavior is also available on the National Campaign's website.

According to a recently released report by the Commonwealth Fund, approximately half of women in the U.S. skipped medical care last year because of cost. The percentage of women who did not fill prescriptions or skipped tests, treatments and follow-up visits because they could not afford it increased from 34% in 2001 to 48% in 2010, with about 33% of women spending more than 10% of their income on medical costs. An estimated 27 million women ages 19 through 64 were uninsured for all or part of 2010, the report found. 

DHHS announced the release of $100 million dollars in Affordable Care Act funds for Community Transformation Grants. CDC will administer this program of up to 75 grants which are focused on community prevention projects to fight chronic diseases.  In Strategic Direction 3: Increased Use of High Impact Quality Clinical Preventive Services, there are options to use outreach to increase screening for chlamydia and HIV and to increase the use of expedited partner therapy. The STD goals are found in Appendix C on page 13 of 21 of the funding announcement. Grant funding amounts range from $50,000 to $500,000 for capacity building and up to $10 million for implementation. All application documents are posted here on Grants.gov.  

As teenagers turn to TV, the Internet, and their phones for sex information, it is vital for health professionals to begin incorporating new media and pop culture into their outreach plans. Using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and message boards are paramount. Shows like "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" have millions of viewers, Facebook fans, and message board participants, and they speak to youth through more multimedia channels than any sex education campaign. Utilizing these forums will help health professionals effectively reach more teenagers at their level. For an interesting commentary on the subject, read Deb Levine's full op-ed, Pop Culture Sex Ed: What Media Teaches Us About Sexual Health.