Diagnosis, Prevention, and Treatment of Syphilis and HIV – A Healthy People 2020 Progress Review Webinar on August 1

By: HIV.gov | Published: July 19, 2017

Cross-posted from Healthy People 2020

Note: Healthy People 2020’s HIV-related Leading Health Indicator is focused on increasing the proportion of persons living with HIV who know their serostatus. The 25-percent improvement target is consistent with the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and uses the same CDC data to measure our progress.

Join the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on Tuesday, August 1 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (ET) for a Progress Review webinar featuring two Healthy People 2020 topic areas:

Sexually Transmitted Diseases
HIV

You’ll also learn how the Bureau of Infectious Diseases in the Louisiana Department of Health is addressing syphilis and HIV. You can register and find a complete list of presenters here .

About Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) include more than 35 infectious organisms that are transmitted primarily through sexual activity. STDs can lead to harmful medical conditions, including poor reproductive outcomes and increased risk of HIV infection. Syphilis is an STD that can have very serious complications when left untreated, but it’s easy to prevent and can be cured with the right treatment.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. The virus can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the last stage off HIV infection, if it’s not treated. HIV is spread through body fluids from sexual contact, sharing needles to injecting drugs, or can be passed from a mother to baby during pregnancy or birth. Unlike some other viruses, the human body can't get rid of HIV completely, even after treatment. So once a person gets HIV, they have it for life. No effective cure currently exists for HIV, but it can be controlled with proper medical care. Treatment for HIV is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). If taken as prescribed, ART can reduce the levels of virus in the body to very low or undetectable levels (viral suppression), dramatically prolonging the lives of many people infected with HIV, keeping them healthy and greatly lowering their chance of infecting others. STDs and HIV remain a significant public health problem in the United State due to their associated health care costs and complications.

About Progress Review Webinars

The Progress Review webinars focus on tracking and measuring the progress of select Healthy People 2020 objectives throughout the decade.