A Public Health Approach for Advancing Sexual Health in the United States: Rationale and Options for Implementation, Final Meeting Report

Final Report from Sexual Health meeting at CDC

From the April 2010 consultation on “A Public Health Approach for Advancing Sexual Health in the United States: Rationale and Options for Implementation.” The meeting generated a tremendous amount of enthusiasm within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and among our partners. We hope that this summary of the meeting-including invited presentations and reactions, and recommendations by meeting participants-will prove useful to you and to others interested in using the sexual health framework to normalize dialogue around sexuality and sexual behavior, enhance educational and preventive services, and improve health outcomes.

Since the meeting last April, a number of important steps have occurred relevant to our effort to promote sexual health both internal to and outside of CDC. While not an inclusive list, notable examples include:

•  Release of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which identifies the opportunity for working together to advance a public health approach to sexual health that includes HIV prevention as one component
• Initiation of a coordinated communication project by CDC to identify appropriate frameworks, metaphors, and messages to promote a sexual health approach to a range of stakeholders
• New strategic initiatives by CDC and the Office of Adolescent Health to reduce teen and unintended pregnancy
• Publication of an important commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for action to address sexual health and of a special issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine on the “Findings from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior”
• Creation of a formal Sexual Health workgroup of the CDC/HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatment
• Recommendation by the Institute of Medicine that “the proportion of the population engaged in responsible sexual behavior” be included as a Healthy People 2020 Leading Indicator
• Publication of a CDC Request for Applications addressing the creation of a national coalition to address sexual health (CDC-RFA-PS11-1112 A National Coalition to Enhance STD/HIV Prevention through Promotion of a Holistic Approach to Health and Wellness)
• Efforts to complete the transformation of the “green paper” discussed at the meeting in April to a White Paper on Sexual Health including development of a CDC definition of sexual health.

Sincerely,
Kevin Fenton, M.D., Ph.D., F.F.P.H.
Director National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention