California Department of Public Health, STD Control Branch

Mission: The mission of the STD Control Branch is to prevent and control sexually transmitted diseases in California, and to reduce their complications.

The Branch supports prevention efforts through providing statewide leadership, guidance, training, technical assistance, surge capacity and safety net support for delivering services throughout the state. We carry out this mission by collaborating with local health jurisdictions and stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

Background: The STD Control Branch works with the state’s 61 local health departments (LHDs) to prevent and control STDs and improve sexual health using the 10 essential functions of public health as a strategic framework.

The Branch uses a multidisciplinary approach and prioritizes from the following available strategies and interventions: surveillance and assessment; health education, awareness and promotion; behavioral interventions, specifically risk reduction counseling; screening to identify asymptomatic individuals; diagnostic testing to identify symptomatic individuals; timely treatment of infected individuals to interrupt disease transmission in the community and prevention complications in the individual; partner services to assure timely treatment of contacts through partner notification via field investigation or the internet and expedited partner therapy; structural interventions; vaccination whenever possible and program evaluation and quality improvement through performance measures.