Mark your calendars! The HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) wants to hear from members of the STI community during two virtual listening sessions on April 4 and April 6, 2023.

OIDP is developing an addendum to the STI National Strategic Plan (PDF, 2.49MB) (STI Plan) to include herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 in the United States. The STI Plan provides a roadmap toward a nation where STIs are prevented and where every person has high-quality STI prevention, care, and treatment while living free from stigma and discrimination. To help inform the HSV addendum to the STI Plan, OIDP will host two separate listening sessions for provider and community audiences. To participate, please register hereExit Disclaimer for the Provider Listening Session and hereExit Disclaimer for the Community Listening Session.

These listening sessions provide an opportunity for OIDP, along with leadership from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other federal agencies involved in the national STI response to listen and learn from providers about the ways the HSV addendum can support their work, as well as an opportunity to listen and learn from the community to center their needs in the HSV addendum. 

Participants will be able to virtually join the listening sessions and provide feedback on a variety of broad topics that will be co-facilitated by staff from OIDP, CDC, and NIH. We understand that within these listening sessions, there could be many topics to cover, so to help start the discussion, potential prompt topics to consider include:

1. HSV awareness/education, stigma reduction, and discussion of lived experiences
2. Barriers and facilitators to HSV testing, care, and treatment
3. HSV research and development of diagnostics, treatment, and vaccines
4. HSV surveillance and reporting challenges

The virtual listening sessions will take place on:

Providers: Tuesday, April 4, 2023, from 3:00pm-4:30pm (EST)

• National, state, local, and tribal health departments and organizations
• Health care providers
• Scientists/researchers

Community: Thursday, April 6, from 1:00pm- 2:30pm (EST)

• National STI Coalition Members
• Advocacy groups
• Community- and faith-based organizations
• People with or at risk for HSV

The listening sessions are free and open to the public, but preregistration is requested.