ASTDA Position Statements

Over the past year, the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association (ASTDA) has started a new initiative: the development of position statements. Through these statements, ASTDA is leveraging its standing in the STI community in the U.S. as a bully pulpit to support expert clinical opinion and to advance STI prevention and control policy.  Both are very important at this point. First, the CDC STI treatment guidelines will be released within the next few months. As much as the guidelines are evidence-based, there are many instances where such evidence does not exist or is not conclusive, resulting in numerous “gray” areas where the guidelines rely on “expert opinion”. ASTDA considering these gray areas, channeling the extensive experience of its membership, will bolster expert opinion and could constitute a very important addendum to the guidelines.  In terms of policy development, ASTDA’s position statements can also be powerful. In fact, the first ASTDA policy statement released last August, is a strong endorsement for publicly-funded STI clinics – very important in times of dwindling resources and increasing stresses to the STI clinical system due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Importantly, there are a number of policy reports that have been published this year, commissioned by the National Coalition of STD Directors: two reports by the National Academy of Policy Administration (NAPA)^{1, 2} and one by the Treatment Action Group.³ In addition, there are two reports anticipated to be released within the next 6-9 months: The STI National Strategic Plan coming from the Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with federal and state partners⁴ and a report from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.⁵ These reports need careful consideration and explicit endorsement by ASTDA.

1.         National Academy of Public Administration. The Impact of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on the United States:Still Hidden, Getting Worse, Can Be Controlled. Accessed 20 August 2020,https://www.napawash.org/uploads/NCSD_Final_Report_12.11.18.pdf

2.         National Academy of Public Administration. STD Epidemic in America: The Front-line Struggle. Accessed December 29, 2019, http://www.ncsddc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/NCSD-Phase-II-Final-Report.pdf

3.         Treatment Action Group. Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and Syphilis - Pipeline Report 2019. https://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/pipeline_gonorrhea_chlamydia_syphilis_final.pdf

4.         Department of Health and Human Services. STI National Strategic Plan. Accessed November 6, 2020, https://www.hhs.gov/programs/topic-sites/sexually-transmitted-infections/plan-overview/index.html

5.         National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States. https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/prevention-and-control-of-sexually-transmitted-infections-in-the-united-states