Question

Determine the individuals who carry out contact investigations, or partner notification for STD’s at the local health department (by interview or web search). How do they contact a person who is less than 18 years of age? What strategies do they use to bring the contact in for treatment? How do they maintain confidentiality? References should be included at the end of the answer and in a reference page for complete credit

Answer 1

Determine the individuals who carry out contact investigations, or partner notification for STD’s at the local health department (by interview or web search).

Partner management (PM) is an important activity in the treatment of STD which aims to increase the number of infected people brought for treatment and disrupt transmission networks.

Partner notification (PN) is an essential component of PM – the mechanism by which health care providers (HCP) learn about the sex partners of the infected patients and offer assistance for partner assessment and treatment.

Partner communication strategies have been reported as a significant addition to the clinical and community context for case-finding.

Index patients have a decreased risk of reinfection when treating friends. HCP should also advise people with STD to alert their sex partners, and recommend them to pursue medical assessment and care.

Time spent educating patients index about the value of notifying partners is correlated with better notification outcomes.

Despite our society's conservative existence, the country has seen a huge rise in the number of polygamous relationships-rapid urbanization as one of its major causes over the last few years. However, urbanisation has also contributed to increased understanding of STD in general. It has been found that there is more understanding and education about unsafe sex and its subsequent illnesses on the entire population.

Although there is a substantial increase in general awareness of STD, care rates and partner notification are still a major problem.

Emphasizing the monitoring and management of the partners may be the next most successful weapon in the fight against STD. The widely used approaches in this field are patient-based partner referral (PBPR) and patient-based partner prescription (PDPM), generally used worldwide for PBPR.

References :

1. Atlanta, USA: CDC; 2010. STD treatment guidelines.

2. Hogben M. Partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases. Clin Infect Dis. 2007;44:S160–74.

3. Wilson TE, Hogben M, Malka ES, Liddon N, McCormack WM, Rubin SR, et al. A randomized controlled trial for reducing risks for sexually transmitted infections through enhanced patient-based partner notification. Am J Public Health. 2009;99:S104–10.

4. Barclay L. CME author Charles Vega, Medscape Medical News, Jan 2007, Systematic Meta-analysis. Informing partners improves outcomes for patients with STI.

5. Young T, de Kock A, Jones H, Altini L, Ferguson T, J van de Wijgert A. Comparison of two methods of partner notification for sexually transmitted infections in South Africa: Patient-delivered partner medication and patient-based partner referral. Int J STD AIDS. 2007;18:338–40.

How do they contact a person who is less than 18 years of age?

'Any information relating to a person held by an agency, including any information that may be used to identify or track an individual's identity, such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother's maiden name or biometric records; and (2) any other information that is related or connected to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial and employment information.

References :

Matthew Metheny, in Federal Cloud Computing (Second Edition), 2017

What strategies do they use to bring the contact in for treatment?

'Partner programmes' are provided to people with STDs, their families and those at elevated risk of infection in an attempt to avoid spread of these diseases and of the suffering from their complications. The historical emphasis was to classify and locate the sexual contacts of compromised individuals and those at risk for behavioural or other causes - 'touch tracking'– and then refer them for care and treatment, as appropriate.

The process of basic partner services – interviewing people with STDs and those possibly involved in transmission, finding individuals still at risk (whether by direct exposure or indirect involvement), and bringing care and treatment to the latter – has grown to provide a comprehensive view of the clinical and epidemiological activities required to support individuals with STD.

However, the strategy and skillset of the partner programmes and the contact tracing goes beyond STD prevention. Disease Management Specialists (DIS) are a specific public health resource designed to improve the emergency preparedness and response capabilities of the nation to emerging public health problems.

How do they maintain confidentiality?

Maintaining public health data confidentiality and protection is a priority for all public health programmes. However, policies differ and while there are disease-specific requirements for CDC-funded HIV services, there is a lack of equally rigorous CDC guidelines for services to prevent viral hepatitis, STD and TB.

Effective implementation of common data protection policies with integrated systems in state and local health departments implies adoption of common data security and confidentiality policies is both fair and feasible. These programmes benefitted from enhanced effective alliances citing improved comprehensiveness of key data components, collaborative analyses and programme efficiency gains

However, despite the possible benefits, measures have not been consistently enforced and the lack of shared standards is often cited as impeding the exchange and use of data. The adoption of traditional data-security and protection practises will provide a crucial basis and become increasingly essential for ensuring the proper sharing and use of data as programmes continue to change policies and increasingly use data for public health action.

References :

Data Security and Confidentiality Guidelines for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Disease, and Tuberculosis Programs: Standards to Facilitate Sharing and Use of Surveillance Data for Public Health Action