Ohio city loses STD grant money

 

The growing number of reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the U.S. highlights the need for more effective programs to encourage people to practice safer sex. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STDs are one of the most crucial health challenges facing Americans today, with an estimated 19 million new infections occurring each year.

Recently, The Columbus Dispatch, an Ohio news source, reported that the Cincinnati Health Department has lost $737,000 in annual grant money that was meant to be used to curb STD rates. State officials said that the city has done a poor job of distributing the funds, and that it offered no plan to gauge if the prevention efforts were even working.

"It’s gotten so bad in the last few years we had no choice but to find a new partner to address the problem," said William McHugh, the Ohio Department of Health’s division of prevention chief, quoted by the news provider.

Cincinnati Health Commissioner Noble Maseru told the news source that he plans to fight the claims made by state officials. According to McHugh, the city's grant proposal for how it would allocate the funds was insufficient, and did not deserve the support of taxpayer money.

“Our department is doing great work,” Maseru said in a statement, quoted by the Dispatch. “The state has placed us in an extremely difficult situation.”

Healthcare workers in Cincinnati said they planned to use the funds to open an STD treatment clinic, but state officials said they had no way to verify that.

Cincinnati received a score of 69 from state reviewers who were sent to examine the grant proposals, but a 70 is required in order to pass. City officials plan to continue to fight the decision made by the Ohio Department of Health.