April 13–19, 2025 marks STI Awareness Week, which aims to spread awareness of STIs and their health impact, reduce stigma and fear surrounding STIs, and provide educational tools for increasing knowledge about STI prevention and treatment. In 2023, there were over 2.4 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia diagnosed and reported to the CDC.
While data shows that rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea may be decreasing from an all-time high in 2019, rates of syphilis and congenital syphilis have increased, especially in women. Preventing, testing, and treating all STIs remains a priority and a key strategy to preventing the health impacts of STIs, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, tubal infertility, congenital syphilis in pregnancy and newborns, and HIV transmission.
The resources below from the RHNTC and the Clinical Training Center for Sexual & Reproductive Health (CTC-SRH) support family planning and adolescent health providers in increasing screening for common STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
RHNTC Resources
Sexually Transmitted Infections Services eLearning Course
This eLearning course for family planning staff describes the STI services that family planning clients may need and provides practical, evidence-informed information and strategies, as well as activities, videos, and scenarios.
Introduction to STIs for TPP Project Staff eLearning
This eLearning course provides an overview of STIs for Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program project staff. It provides practical, evidence-informed strategies that can be incorporated into teaching adolescents about sexual and reproductive health, and offers opportunities to apply this knowledge to TPP project scenarios.
Using Normalizing and Opt-out Language for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Screening: Sample Script
This sample script is designed to help staff use normalizing and opt-out language to screen clients for chlamydia and gonorrhea. The script is also available in Spanish.
Using Normalizing and Opt-out Language for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Screening: Palm Card
This palm card is designed to help staff use normalizing and opt-out language to screen clients for chlamydia and gonorrhea. When clinic staff use normalizing language, it helps clients feel that they are not being judged or singled out.
Syphilis Resource List
This list includes free online resources that family planning providers can use to learn about syphilis and congenital syphilis, including prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. There are resources for administrators, clinical services providers, and other staff.
Addressing Syphilis in Sexual and Reproductive Health Settings Webinar (Part 1)
This webinar, held November 20, 2024, describes recent trends of syphilis and congenital syphilis and explores ways in which Title X and other sexual and reproductive health providers can enhance syphilis services and referrals to care.
Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021
These guidelines from the CDC are intended to assist physicians and other health care providers in preventing and treating STIs. Although the guidelines emphasize treatment, prevention strategies, and diagnostic recommendations are also discussed.
Grantee Spotlights
Addressing Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Together in Arizona
In this grantee spotlight, learn how Title X grantee Affirm worked with its Title X network as well as convening partners in a coordinated effort to prevent, identify, and treat both syphilis and congenital statewide.
Self-Service Kiosks Improve Access to Reproductive Health Products in PA
In this grantee spotlight, learn how Title X grantee Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania is taking a unique approach to ensuring that individuals can access reproductive health products, including STI testing kits, with both ease and privacy.
CTC-SRH Resources
Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis: A Toolkit for Healthcare Providers
This toolkit is a collection of tools, job aids, and evidence-based resources related to screening, testing, staging, and treating syphilis. It is intended for Title X staff but includes resources that can be useful for any sexual and reproductive health provider.
Syphilis 101 Webinar
This educational webinar aims to strengthen the providers' capacity to diagnose and stage syphilis accurately. The training will provide a detailed overview of the stages of syphilis, including the criteria used for accurate staging, which is essential for effective treatment planning and follow-up care. Participants will learn about the differences between traditional and reverse screening algorithms, and the interpretation of syphilis titers to distinguish between new and past infections. This webinar will provide the knowledge and insights needed to make confident diagnostic and treatment decisions for patients at various stages of syphilis, ultimately improving health outcomes and contributing to broader public health efforts in syphilis and congenital syphilis treatment and prevention.
The CTC-SRH will host another live session of this webinar on May 21, 2025 with 2.0 CNE/CME available. Register now.
