American Social Health Association, Your Trusted Source of Information on STDs and Sexual Health

For almost 100 years ASHA has been talking to you about sexually transmitted diseases/infections (STD/STIs). In that time we’ve helped millions learn how to protect themselves, talk to their partners and parents, know what to do if they have an STD/STI and much more. We have thousands of stories from people letting us know how helpful we’ve been. It’s time to do more though.

We believe that the answer is to start talking about sexual health. No, sexual health is not just about protecting yourself from an STD/STI, which is ASHA’s history. STD/STIs are certainly a critical piece of the sexual health puzzle but being sexually healthy is about much more.

FEATURED NEWS

White House Launches National HIV/AIDS Strategy

The American Social Health Association (ASHA) today applauded and endorsed the President’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy, and called for expanded training of healthcare providers as an essential element of efforts to achieve the laudable goals of this important effort.

More than 1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, and as many as 1 in 5 are estimated to be undiagnosed. AIDS and public health advocates have long sought a comprehensive, national HIV strategy that pulls together resources from multiple government agencies, including backing from the White House.

"The National AIDS Strategy is a huge step forward for HIV prevention," said Bradley P. Stoner, MD, Board Chair of ASHA. "To succeed, it’s essential to address sexual health openly and clearly, something that many health care providers and their patients find awkward to talk about."

"Currently, health care providers receive little training to help them assess risk for, and address HIV and other STDs," Stoner said. "In order to reach the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, providers taking care of persons with, or at risk of HIV infection need up-to-date training to turn the President’s vision into a reality on the ground."

"To make the plan work," added Katherine Hsu, MD, MPH and Patricia Coury-Doniger, FNPC, co-chairs of the National Network of STD/HIV Prevention Training Centers (NNPTC), “we need to make sure that all healthcare professionals are trained to talk comfortably with their patients, screen them for HIV and other STDs, and treat them correctly."

Stoner also said that he hoped that the plan, together with the administration’s healthcare reform bill, would provide the funding needed to support training of medical and nursing students and for professionals already working in the field.

Read more about the National HIV/AIDS Strategy on the website of the Office of National AIDS Policy.

ASHA Offers a new resource for HCPs: "Talking to your patients about HPV"

Conversations about HPV between healthcare providers and patients can be diffiuclt and time consuming. ASHA's new multimedia presentation Talking About HPV offers tools and talking points to facilitate effective, empathetic discussions with patients.
View the presentation here.
(Please note: the presentation will take a few moments to load.)

Gel Reduces HIV, HSV Infections in Women

Research presented at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna suggests a topical gel can reduce HIV and herpes infections in women.

To test its effectiveness in protecting against HIV infections contracted through vaginal sex, 1% tenofovir gel (sold by Gilead Sciences under the brand name Viread) was tested in 889 women who were part of the CAPRISA 004 microbicide trial in South Africa. The women – who were HIV-negative and tested monthly for the infection- used the microbicide gel vaginally 12 hours before and after intercourse.

After 30-months of follow-up, 39% fewer HIV infections were found with women using the gel, compared to the placebo group. Also, use of the microbicide gel reduced genital herpes infections by 51%. While additional studies are needed to fully assess the potential of the gel in preventing HIV and herpes, AIDS activists are understandably abuzz about these findings.

Commenting on the study, Kevin Fenton, MD, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention said, "The CAPRISA microbicide trial results are an exciting step forward for HIV prevention. While these findings may need to be confirmed by other research to meet requirements for licensure by FDA and other regulatory bodies throughout the world, they suggest that we could soon have a new method to help reduce the heavy toll of HIV among women around the world. Women represent the majority of new HIV infections globally, and urgently need methods they can control to protect themselves from infection." Dr. Fenton added the reduction of genital herpes infections in this study is also "encouraging," as herpes is common throughout the world and is a factor in HIV transmission.

To learn more, see the CDC statement on the CAPRISA clinical trials.