The St. Louis Health Department is getting a grant from the Centers for Disease Control

The city of St. Louis will receive nearly $1 million over the next three years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to combat its stubbornly high rate of sexually transmitted diseases.

The city is just one of four local jurisdictions to receive funding directly from the CDC.

St. Louis leads the nation in rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.

Health officials blame issues such as clinic closures, stigma, drug use, poverty, lack of trauma-informed service providers, and unstable living conditions.