Philadelphia’s Syphilis Outbreak in Gay Men

Since 2000, rapid ethnographic assessment has been used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention (DSTDP) to assist local health departments by providing technical assistance to develop disease prevention strategies. To facilitate this, Dr. Frederick Bloom was hired as a Research Anthropologist by the Behavioral Interventions and Research Branch of DSTDP in 1998. An anthropologist was sought specifically to address the need for someone with the education and skills needed to conduct exploratory ethnographic assessments of hard to reach populations (e.g., homeless persons, drug users, commercial sex workers, gay men, immigrants) during disease outbreaks. It was anticipated that such exploratory work would compliment existing epidemiological and medical expertise in the division. Specifically, the added value of additional behavioral and socio-cultural information provided by ethnographic assessment would facilitate a more effective response to increases in STD morbidity. At the time of the assessment that will be discussed in this manuscript, Dr. Chillag was also an anthropologist working in DSTD with experience in ethnographic work and Ms. Yetter was a visiting public health fellow assigned to work with Dr. Bloom

Ethnography · Family medicine · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Medical education · Psychological intervention · Public health · Sexually transmitted disease · Sociology · Syphilis · Anthropology · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Gerontology

• Assisting the Improvement of a Military Safety System

  Garrett Sadler, Nhut Ho et al.•Human Organization•2019

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