Giving Compass' Take:

• New state data show record-high STD cases in California in 2017, some of which lead to infant deaths. Experts site lack of education and access to medical care as likely culprits. 

• How can philanthropy increase preventative education and medical screening? Can the state do more to address the epidemic? 

• There is reason to be concerned about the lack of STD research funds in the world.

Diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases hit a record high in California last year — with sometimes deadly consequences, according to preliminary state data released this week.

More than 300,000 cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis — the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infections — were reported in 2017. That represents a 45 percent increase since 2013 and the highest number since at least 1990, state Department of Public Health numbers show.

Some of those cases had tragic endings: Thirty of the 278 babies affected by congenital syphilis in 2017 were stillbirths, the highest number in 22 years. Congenital syphilis occurs when syphilis passes from a pregnant woman to her fetus.

Alfaro cited lack of access to health care, insurance and education as contributing factors to the rise in congenital syphilis. “All of those things are a deadly combination,” he said.

Prado also pointed to a rise in syphilis among methamphetamine users.

New HIV infections fell in both California and nationwide from 2012 to 2016, in part because of improved treatment and increased use of the HIV-prevention pill known as PrEP.

While there’s no one clear reason for the increases of the other STDs, Bauer pointed to “very high rates of folks who are not accessing sexual health services and aren’t getting screened frequently.”

Read the full article about STD epidemic in California by Harriet Rowan and Alex Leeds Matthews at Governing.