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Assembly Health Committee to Confront California's Response to Sexually Transmitted Disease Epidemic

Posted on: Friday, 15 February 2008, 18:00 CST

AIDS Healthcare Foundation:

WHAT:

Assembly Health Hearing on STDs; & Media Availability

Community Reaction to Hearing:

"California's Sexually Transmitted Disease Epidemic: Causes, Costs & Control"

WHEN:

Tuesday, February 19th, 2:00pm - 4:00pm

WHERE:

STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Room 4202

SACRAMENTO, CA

WHO:

Introduction:

The Honorable Mervyn M. Dymally, Assemblymember; Chair, Assembly Health Committee

Sponsors and participants of the California Assembly Health Committee STD hearing include:

Norman Constantine, DrPH, Director, Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute

Rocio Cordoba, Executive Director, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice

Demetrius Navarro, Advocate

Cynthia Davis, MPH, Assistant Professor, Center for Community and Preventive Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Margie Fites-Siegle, CEO, California Family Health Council

Stephen E. Follansbee, MD, Director, HIV Services and Travel Medicine, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco

Douglas Hatch, MD, Chief, Division of Communicable Disease Control, DPH

Mark Horton, MD, MSPH, State Public Health Officer and Director, California Department of Public Health (DPH)

Peter Kerndt, MD, STD Controllers Association

Michelle Roland, MD, Chief, Office of AIDS, DPH

Mary Ann Shafer, MD, UC San Francisco, Dept of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (Reproductive Health Researcher)

Carlos Soto-Albors, MD, Northern California Fertility Medical Center

Glennah Trochet, MD, Sacramento County Health Officer, Chair, HOAC, CCLHO

Celinda M. Vazquez, Director of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles

Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

CONTACTS:

SACTO

--

Rand Martin, Rose & Kindel

+1 (949) 718-7946 mobile

+1 (949) 441-1034 work

LA

--

Ged Kenslea, AHF Communications Director

+1 (323) 791-5526 mobile

+1 (323) 860-5225 work

A broad statewide coalition of community, public health, medical, research and governmental officials will take part in a landmark California Assembly Health Committee informational hearing on Tuesday, February 19, to explore the state's response to California's sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemic, which has increased dramatically over the past several years. The hearing, which will be held in Room 4202 of the State Capitol Building from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, affords California legislators and concerned officials from throughout the state the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the causes, costs and more effective future strategies to control the statewide epidemic of preventable and treatable sexually transmitted diseases. More than 15 concerned health and public policy advocates from around the state will participate in the hearing, titled, "California's Sexually Transmitted Disease Epidemic: Causes, Costs and Control."

"STD services have eroded to the bone statewide. We cannot screen patients for infection, get patients treated with known STDs and educate the public. It is no wonder STDs have increased for ten years in a row in California," said Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH, President, California STD Controllers' Association. "We know that STD screening saves lives, prevents disease and saves money. For every dollar spent on Chlamydia screening, two dollars are saved in preventable diseases like infertility. It's immoral that we cannot get those programs adequately funded."

"The public health/safety net sector has too few resources to meet the need for family planning and STD screening services for high-risk, low-income women and men in California," said Margie Fites-Seigle, President & CEO, California Family Health Council, Inc. "Chlamydia is a silent disease for which national data show the highest rates of infection in 15-19-year-old females. Women, who are treated in family planning clinics, frequently return to the clinic re-infected because of inadequate funding for partner treatment. Adequately funded STD educational programs, screening, testing and treatment are essential to the health of California's youth."

"We understand that California is facing a fiscal emergency and do not expect new state monies to be designated for STD prevention; however, the cost of preventing STDs is a tiny fraction of the cost of treating them, so we are appealing to state officials to reprioritize current federal and state funding to place the highest priority on doing the maximum amount of STD screening that these funds will allow," said Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "California should use the limited resources that are available to advertise and distribute condoms in a no-nonsense fashion, and the legislature should do everything within its authority to encourage insurers and providers to make STD screening a regular part of medical care. If we can work together to bring the disease burden down to a more reasonable level we will be able to concentrate more of our efforts on prevention."

Source: Business Wire

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