LA County looks for novel ways, more money to fight rising STD rates

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called connected Tuesday, Sept. 28, for much resources and coordination to combat a troubling spike successful the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said it was important the region not suffer show of different nationalist wellness needs successful the look of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our region is successful the mediate of an ongoing STD situation that has seen cases present skyrocket,” Solis said. “As we’ve seen with COVID-19, the emergence successful STDs is heavy associated with galore societal determinants of health, starring to galore of the aforesaid communities deed disproportionately by the pandemic bearing the brunt of this situation arsenic well.”

Rates of syphilis, which is simply a known hazard origin for HIV, are much than 5 times higher successful women and much than tripled among men from 2009-2019, according to region nationalist wellness data.

The 2019 complaint was 104/100,000 residents for men — oregon astir 1 successful each 1,000 men — and 11/100,000 residents for women.

Cases of congenital syphilis — passed from a parent to her kid —though tiny connected an implicit basis, person accrued adjacent much rapidly, from 10 successful 2010 to 113 successful 2020.

The committee directed the county’s assorted wellness departments to study backmost with an updated program of action, including expanded entree to investigating and treatment, assemblage acquisition campaigns, and a nationalist STD “dashboard” to way cases.

It besides asked legislative affairs staffers to advocator for further national and authorities resources to combat the trend.

“With this motion, we tin marque definite that the applicable agencies enactment unneurotic with assemblage partners and wellness attraction organizations to coordinate a program of enactment to code this situation and enactment resources down it,” Solis said.