|
Find the NCC on Facebook!
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! | | |
|
|
|
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to NCC News. This online newsletter was created to keep you up-to-date on all things chlamydia and related areas of interest. We hope you will find it useful and informative. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues who also may find it of use. |
 | New National Resource Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents |
The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) recently launched the National Resource Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention among Adolescents. The Center supports adolescent service providers by offering web-based resources, evidence-based program information, and links to training and technical assistance to help prevent HIV/AIDS among adolescents, in particular adolescents from minority and high risk populations. Features of the new resource include: a calendar with a list of HIV-prevention events nationwide, current research related to adolescent HIV prevention, a database directory of evidence-based prevention interventions, and more.
|
|
Decline in Sexual Risks Among Black Youth
|
According to a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of black high school students engaging in sexual risk behaviors declined dramatically between 1991 and 2011, significantly reducing the disparities in risk between black youth and youth of other racial or ethnic groups. In 1991, black students were nearly two-thirds more likely to have had sexual  intercourse and almost three times as likely to report having multiple partners, as compared to white students. By 2011, the disparity between black and white students who ever had sex was cut in half, and the difference in the likelihood of having multiple sex partners declined even more (58%). Condom use among sexually active black students was higher than among their white and Hispanic peers. Yet overall, black students in 2011 still continued to report higher levels of sexual risk behavior than their peers.
|
|
New Brief Provides a Guide to Supreme Court's ACA Decision
| |
A new policy brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation explains the key issues in the Supreme Court's recent ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The brief examines the Court's affirmation that the individual mandate is constitutional and explains the justices' more complex decision to limit the law's enforcement mechanism for Medicaid expansion while allowing the overall expansion to go forward. It also looks ahead to ACA implementation now that questions about the constitutionality of the law have been resolved. The new guide is one of many Foundation resources about the law available on the Health Reform Source website.
|
|
NCC Mini Grant Case Study Now Available: Michigan Department of Community Health
| |
The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) partnered with Molina Healthcare of Michigan, the largest Medicaid managed care provider in the state, to adapt an award-winning, culturally specific intervention to increase chlamydia screening among female members ages 16-24. The Chlamydia Practice Improvement Project included on-site provider visits, production of a provider tool kit, creation of incentives and awards for participating providers, and the provision of educational materials and incentives to female members. During the study period, the percentage of patients screened for chlamydia increased by 14% across the 14 participating provider practices, with the percent screened rising from 42.6% in 2009 to 56.6% in 2010. Check out the full synopsis to read more about the project and results.
|
|
Chlamydia Testing Patterns for Commercially Insured Women: An NCC Research Translation Committee Expert Commentary
| |
In the latest installment of the NCC Research Translation Committee's Expert Commentary, testing patterns among commercially insured women are discussed. An analysis of MarketScan insurance claims data found that, among 3.2 million women aged 15-44 years who had reproductive health services in 2008, only 0.7 million (22%) were tested for chlamydia. A larger proportion of tests were performed for older women: of the 0.7 million women tested, 65% were aged 26-44 years. This pattern of overtesting older women is similar to that reported for women who visited federally funded Title X family planning clinics.
|
| HPV Vaccine Shows Signs of Herd Immunity |
A study released in Pediatrics suggests that the HPV vaccine provides benefit to women even if they are not vaccinated due to herd immunity. Among the women in the study there was a decrease in the  prevalence of HPV in the years after the vaccine was introduced. This decrease in HPV prevalence was seen among both vaccinated and unvaccinated women. Because the study was conducted in just one community of mainly African American women, further research is needed to confirm the results and determine if the findings apply to the general population.
|
| FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Home-Use Rapid HIV Test |
Earlier this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, the first over-the-counter home-use rapid HIV test kit. The In-Home HIV Test allows individuals to collect an oral fluid sample and obtain test results within 20 to 40 minutes. A positive result with this test indicates that additional testing in a medical setting is needed to confirm the test result. The CDC estimates that 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and approximately one in five are not aware they are infected. This test has the potential to identify large numbers of previously undiagnosed HIV infections.
|
|
|
|
|
