OPA’s 2024 Year in Review

Published December 2024

As we close out 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Population Affairs (OPA) reflects on our accomplishments during the past year. From rigorous research and evaluation to high-quality clinical services, these accomplishments signify our commitment to advancing reproductive health outcomes and adolescent health.

In 2024, we:

• Promoted a Call to Action to Improve Adolescent Health and Well-Being
• Funded Essential Title X Services Nationwide
• Implemented Effective TPP Programs and Developed New and Innovative Approaches
• Increased Public Awareness for Embryo Donation and Adoption
• Conducted Research and Evaluation to Improve Programs and Services
• Provided Training and Technical Assistance
• Presented the Children and Youth Resilience Challenge Finalists

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Promoted a Call to Action to Improve Adolescent Health and Well-Being

Since the launch of Take Action for Adolescents™ ‒ A Call to Action for Adolescent Health and Well-Being, OPA has focused on raising awareness and supporting its implementation by engaging with communities to bring the initiative's vision, goals, and principles to life. To date, OPA has directly reached over 2,000 people across the country through in-person community events, speaking engagements, intensive workshops, and virtual events.

Let us know if you supported adolescent health and well-being this year!

During National Adolescent Health Month™ (NAHM™), OPA shared information and resources to help individuals engage with the many facets of adolescent health. OPA hosted a virtual youth dialogue to elevate the perspectives of young people on what is needed to build communities that will help them be healthy and thrive.

Additionally, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC DASH), OPA awarded a new grant to support policy research on adolescent health to Stanford University to understand the impact of national, state, and local policies focused on meeting the health and well-being needs of adolescents.

Funded Essential Title X Family Planning Services Nationwide

OPA provided $261 million in funding to support a network of 86 Title X grant recipients to provide a wide range of voluntary, client-centered family planning and related preventive services to clients nationwide through a network of 3,853 service sites. The Title X family planning program is a critical part of America’s public health safety net, serving as a point-of-entry into care for nearly 2.8 million clients in 2023.

The Title X network provides services across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.

Family Planning Annual Report (FPAR) 2023 National Summary

OPA released the FPAR 2023 National Summary that illustrates how the Title X program continued to rebuild and grow in the past year by:

• Providing free or affordable family planning and preventive health services nationwide to clients in families with low incomes.
• Reaching 2.8 million clients, an increase of 7% from 2022 and 80% from 2020.
• Providing essential contraceptive services, STI and HIV testing and treatment services and cancer screenings.
• Leveraging additional public and private funding sources to deliver services.

Updated Quality Family Planning Recommendations

OPA released the revised 2024 Quality Family Planning recommendations with the goal of setting the gold standard for the provision of evidence-based sexual and reproductive health care. These recommendations represent an update to Providing Quality Family Planning (QFP) Services: Recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (OPA), originally published in 2014.

Implemented Effective TPP Programs and Developed New and Innovative Approaches

OPA provided more than $69 million to 55 organizations to replicate and scale community-driven evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) programs with youth and caregivers across 31 states and Puerto Rico. OPA’s evidence-based TPP program serves nearly 200,000 youth, parents, and caregivers annually to improve adolescent reproductive health and overall well-being.

OPA also provided nearly $23 million to 18 organizations to foster innovation, provide new research, and expand evidence for promising interventions for youth, parents, and clinical providers. OPA’s six Adolescent Sexual Health Innovation Hubs are partnering with other organizations to develop new innovations to address emerging needs in the field and to further test and refine existing promising approaches to build evidence of effectiveness.

2024 TPP Grantee Conference

This past July, OPA hosted more than 400 participants at the National TPP Grantee Conference in Baltimore. With a conference theme of “Ignite and Inspire: Uniting for Impact” and nearly 50 professional sessions, OPA convened TPP grantees with the purpose of energizing and inspiring them while creating a shared sense of purpose, connection, opportunity, and support. Plenary sessions covered meaningful youth engagement, parent/caregiver engagement and self-care. Participants shared their expertise, knowledge, and experience, and networked with peers to build capacity.

Increased Public Awareness for Embryo Donation and Adoption

OPA’s Embryo Adoption Awareness and Services (EAA) grant recipients received $818,000 to increase public awareness of embryo donation and adoption and address a variety of medical and administrative services that are used as a method of family formation, including education, counseling, and other medical services.

Conducted Research and Evaluation to Improve Programs and Services

Investigated Core Components of Evidence-Based TPP Programs

OPA worked with the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) to investigate the role of components in the TPP evidence base. This work represents a major shift from focusing on general program effectiveness to focusing on the drivers of a program’s effectiveness. By identifying core components of evidence-based programs, professionals can focus limited resources on implementing the content and activities most likely to change behavior and improve outcomes.

The work produced a list of core components for evidence-based TPP interventions, a checklist for the field to use in identifying core components of their own interventions, systematic literature reviews identifying components in the field, and in adding components to the HHS TPP Evidence Review.

Research to Improve Quality, Access, and Equity of Title X Services

OPA’s Title X family planning research grants conduct research or analyses to generate information that will improve the delivery of family planning services and expand equitable access to quality sexual and reproductive health services. Five organizations received $2.9 million in continuation funds for their third and final year of funding.

Translating Research into Practice to Improve Adolescent Health

OPA's TPP Research to Practice Center grant projects synthesize and translate existing research into practice to improve adolescent health and ultimately help to reduce unintended teen pregnancy. Two organizations received $2.1 million in continuation funding for their third year of a four-year project period.

Provided Training and Technical Assistance

OPA supported intensive continuing education and professional development for professionals working to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes across the country with $1.3 million in funding to the Clinical Training Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health (CTC-SRH) and $5.5 million for the Reproductive Health National Training Center (RHNTC).

Both centers provided intensive training and support on a wide range of sexual and reproductive health topics through individual technical assistance, webinars, peer learning groups, online learning modules, in-person training, and dissemination of resources.

In September 2024, the CTC-SRH hosted the National Reproductive Health Conference (NRHC). This conference explored the transformative impact of new developments in reproductive health care alongside nearly 400 clinical providers.

Presented the Children and Youth Resilience Challenge Finalists

In June 2024, HHS presented the final grand prize winner and two runners-up of the national Children and Youth Resilience Challenge. The Resilience Challenge winners were selected from a diverse cohort of 14 innovation teams, chosen in Phase 1 of the Challenge, all of whom helped create a collaborative and supportive learning community for advancing children's and youth's mental health and well-being. OPA, ASPE, and the Administration for Children and Families collaborated on this first-ever federal prize competition for community-led, culturally responsive innovations that advance mental health and well-being among children and youth from birth to age 24.

Watch the Children and Youth Resilience Summit to learn about the Challenge finalists and their innovations.

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This year, the HHS Office of Population Affairs (OPA) made significant progress in advancing sexual and reproductive health care and ensuring all adolescents have what they need to be healthy. From rigorous research and evaluation to high-quality clinical services, OPA and their grant recipients continue to support the health and well-being of our nation. Explore these milestones in OPA’s 2024 Year in Review Bulletin. https://opa.hhs.gov/about/news/e-updates/opa-2024-year-review

The HHS Office of Population Affairs (OPA) made significant progress in advancing #ReproductiveHealth and #AdolescentHealth this year, continuing to support evidence-based and innovative programs nationwide. Read about these accomplishments in their 2024 Year in Review! https://opa.hhs.gov/about/news/e-updates/opa-2024-year-review

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The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) made significant progress in advancing #ReproductiveRealth and #AdolescentHealth and well-being this year. Read OPA’s 2024 accomplishments in their 2024 Year in Review! https://opa.hhs.gov/about/news/e-updates/opa-2024-year-review