Dr. Leana Wen provides input on the use of fentanyl testing strips.

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Charleston, WV, Mayor Danny Jones, is proposing to end the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s needle exchange program. Dr. Patrick Chaulk, Assistant Comissioner for HIV/STD Services talks about Baltimore's harm-reduction program. 

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This week, Baltimore City announced that we will be joining a lawsuit against President Trump, challenging his Administration’s cut in federal funding for evidence-based reproductive health education programs.

In July 2017, the Health Department received notice from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health that the grant period for Baltimore City’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program would be terminated two years early. This amounts to a reduction in overall funding from $8.6 million to $5.1 million – a cut of $3.5 million.

This funding cut will result in reduced access to evidence-based teen pregnancy curricula for 20,000 students in Baltimore, creating a vacuum in critical health education for thousands of vulnerable teens. It eliminates the capacity to train teachers in evidence-based reproductive health education and jeopardizes our Youth Advisory Council—Baltimore City teens who act as peer health advocates.

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Baltimore city will join a federal lawsuit asking the federal government to restore promised grant funding to a program that provides evidence-based education to reduce teen birth rates. “This cut is shocking and unprecedented,” said Dr. Leana Wen, the Baltimore City Health Commissioner.

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