COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus Public Health is on the receiving end of a $1.8 million grant to help identify and prevent sexually transmitted infections in the community.

The program will enable Columbus Public Health to identify and prevent STIs through gonorrhea culture screening, syphilis elimination, gonococcal isolate surveillance, and partner services. An STI is an infection passed from one person to another through sexual contact. Common STIs include trichomonas, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.

In January 2023, a sexual health and wellness clinic opened at Columbus Public Health. The clinic, which offers comprehensive sexual health services, was opened in response to rates of sexually transmitted diseases increasing throughout the state. Syphilis cases in Ohio increased 82% between 2016 and 2021, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.

Toward the end of 2023, Columbus Public Health reported a syphilis outbreak in the city. And Franklin County had 4,682 reported cases of gonorrhea in 2022, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. That is a rate of 354.3 cases of gonorrhea per 100,000 people.

The STI prevention grant program is entirely funded by the Ohio Department of Health. The $1,812,807 grant was approved Monday by Columbus City Council. When it was put up to a vote, councilmember Melissa Green — chair of the health, human services and equity committee — described how the program will benefit residents.

“Through the program, those individuals will be linked to treatment [and] provided with education and contact tracing,” Green said, “which allows health specialists to follow up with people who may have also been exposed to those transmittable infections to likewise assess, screen, diagnose, treat when necessary and provide subsequent education.”

Learn more about HIV/STI testing at Columbus Public Health here.