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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. |
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April National STD Awareness Month!
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The NCC would like to thank the NCC Members who have uploaded public awareness materials to the Sexual Health Resource Exchange. Seventy-one new resources have been uploaded to the SHRE in the months of March and April!
Have you developed any new, creative materials to celebrate and  promote STD Awareness Month? If so, share them and other sexual health materials with your colleagues by uploading them to the SHRE. As many of you already know, the SHRE is a web-based resource library that provides access to high quality, accurate, multi-media public awareness and education materials on chlamydia and other sexual health issues. We hope you all have a chance to explore the site, share your resources, and download those of interest to you!
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| New Rapid Real-Time Assay for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Screening | |
In this installment of the Research Translation Committee's Expert Commentary series, Charlotte Gaydos, MS, MPH, DrPH from Johns Hopkins University discusses anew rapid real-time assay for chlamydia and gonorrhea screening. The Cepheid GeneXpert® assay was FDA cleared in December 2012 for use in female endocervical swabs, patient-collected vaginal swabs, and for female and male  urine specimens. The GeneXpert® System demonstrated excellent sensitivities and specificities in women and men, and can provide results to guide treatment decisions before patients leave the clinic in many settings. Such same-day treatment may significantly improve chlamydia and gonorrhea control efforts. Click here to read more.
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Can you Invent a Better Condom?
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As part of its "Grand Challenges in Global Health" series, The Bill & Melinda  Gates Foundation's is offering $100,000 to fund initial R&D-with potential continuing funding of up to $1 million-to the inventor who can create a better condom. The Foundation believes that a better condom would lead to substantial benefits for global health, both in reducing unplanned pregnancies and preventing STIs. Applications are accepted through May 7, 2013.
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SAHM Position Paper on Promoting the Health and Well-Being of LGBT Adolescents
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The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) issued a position paper in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health, providing recommendations for promoting the health and well-being of LGBT adolescents. The organization calls on adolescent healthcare providers and researchers to be trained in culturally competent care and encourages providers to help positively influence policy related to LGBT adolescents in schools, the foster care system, the juvenile justice system, and within the family structure. |
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OAH Webcast on Teen Pregnancy
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The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) is hosting a free webcast, A Global Look at Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Strategies for Success, on Thursday, May 2 from 2:00 to 3:00pm ET, to kick off National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. Robert W. Blum, an expert in adolescent health and teen pregnancy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will discuss how teen pregnancy outcomes in the United States compare globally, and what we can learn from teen pregnancy prevention efforts abroad.
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| YTH Live 2013 Annual Conference
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The YTH Live Conference (youth + tech + health) attracted over 500 youth leaders, health educators, researchers and clinicians to San Francisco from April 7-9. Over 40 presentations and another 25 poster sessions covered novel approaches to STI prevention, HIV prevention, and consistent contraceptive use, all in the context of healthy relationships. Highlights included showcases by Rock Health (a startup incubator program), STD Triage, and Be the Generation Bridge. Two new services you might want to know about:
STD Triage: Use your phone to take a picture of your sore, bump or rash, and send the images directly to the doctors. Speedy, accurate responses include those not to worry, and those exhorting you to get yourself to a physician ASAP. Email Alexander Brove if you think you could use this for your clinic or health center.
Before We Do: This is a combination of IWantTheKit.org home testing kits (brown paper wrapped mail-order testing), risk assessment profiles and advice on how to talk to your partner about STIs. The site is currently being built - sign up today to be one of the first to test out the alpha version once it launches.
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NCC Mini Grant Case Studies Available
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The two newest NCC mini grant case studies in the series have been published. Cardea Services Inc. worked to develop, pilot test, and disseminate a set of clinical tools to guide the standard delivery of STD care to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people and the health care systems that serve them. They developed clinical tools for delivery of STD prevention, screening, patient and partner care, and treatment. Meanwhile, Old Dominion University (ODU) Student Health Services designed a multi-faceted project to increase chlamydia awareness, screening, and treatment at ODU and in the surrounding Tidewater area of Virginia. This project included a media campaign, direct access testing through the student health center, partner referrals at the local health department for non-ODU students, additional sexual health education initiatives, and training of residence hall advisors. To read more about these projects, or the five other previously published case studies, click here.
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