Michigan's Women, Infants & Children program, providing supplemental nutrition, breastfeeding information, and other resources for healthy mothers & babies.
Information on the Family Independence Program, State Disability Assistance, SSI, Refugee, and other cash assistance.
If you cannot afford child care, payment assistance is available.
Children's Special Health Care Services information and FAQ's.
Information on assistance with home repairs, heat and utility bills, relocation, home ownership, burials, home energy, and eligibility requirements.
Information on the Food Assistance Program, eligibility requirements, and other food resources.
Information about the health care programs available through Medicaid and how to qualify.
Our migrant program works with a number of organizations to provide services for Michigan’s migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
A federal program which helps persons admitted into the U.S. as refugees to become self-sufficient after their arrival.
Universal caseload, or task-based processing, is a different way of handling public assistance cases.
Information on the Children's Protective Services Program, child abuse reporting procedures, and help for parents in caring for their children.
Information on adoption programs, adoption resources, locating birth parents and obtaining information from adoption records.
Information on Adult Protective Services, Independent Living Services, Adult Community Placement Services, and HIV/AIDS Support Services.
Information on child support services for participants and partners.
Programs for healthy children & families, including immunization, lead poisoning prevention, prenatal smoking cessation, and many others.
Information on the Children's Foster Care program and becoming a Foster Parent.
Information about the Michigan law that requires certain information be made available to a woman who is seeking an abortion at least 24 hours prior to the abortion procedure.
Information on treatment and services for juvenile offenders, success stories, and more.
Child Welfare Medical and Behavioral Health Resources
MDHHS and partners support a continuum of prevention services. The continuum is inclusive of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention activities. Visit this page to learn more.
Information about injury and violence prevention programs in Michigan
Information on Safe Sleep for your baby, how to protect your baby's life.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' (MDHHS) Environmental Health Bureau (EHB) uses the best available science to reduce, eliminate, or prevent harm from environmental, chemical, and physical hazards.
Resources and information to assist in assuring firearm safety for families in the state of Michigan.
The Division of Victim Services (DVS) provides a voice advocating for and responding to all victims of crime in Michigan. Learn more about DVS-funded programs and services, including Michigan’s 24/7, free, confidential, and anonymous domestic violence and sexual assault hotlines.
Medical Resources for Child Protection
Serves as liaison and provides funding to Michigan’s 45 local health departments.
Adult Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Services
Multicultural Health
Prevention of diseases & conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many others.
Information on communicable & chronic diseases.
Home to an array of public health programs, initiatives and interventions aimed at improving the health and well-being of women, infants, families and communities.
Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce Records
Boards and Commissions
Bridge Card Participation Information on Electronic Benefits for clients and businesses, lists of participating retailers and ATMs, and QUEST.
Provider Payments Information on the direct deposit of State of Michigan payments into a provider's bank account.
Information on How to Bid, Requests for Proposals, forms and publications, contractor rates, and manuals.
Information & resources for Community and Faith-Based partners
Information on DHS Applications and Forms grouped by category.
State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP)
Health Care Providers
Licensing information for Adult Foster Care and Homes for the Aged, Child Day Care Facilities, Child Caring Institutions, Children's Foster Care Homes, Child Placing Agencies, Juvenile Court Operated Facilities and Children's or Adult Foster Care Camps.
Michigan Statewide Systems of Care
Information on the grant awarded for the State Innovation Model Proposal
Protect MiFamily -Title IV-E Waiver
Offers resources for agencies who operate the Weatherization Assistance Program in the state of Michigan
Information on resources in your community and volunteer recruitment and training, and services provided at local DHS offices.
Information is collected to monitor the general health and well-being of Michigan citizens.
Equal Opportunity, Legal Base, Laws and Reporting Welfare Fraud information.
A variety of reports & statistics for programs and services.
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In response to increasing rates of syphilis, MDHHS has launched the "Stop Syphilis" campaign to increase awareness of and testing for syphilis. Syphilis is a preventable and treatable sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause serious health problems if left untreated.
Babies can also get syphilis. Congenital syphilis happens when people pass the infection to their babies during pregnancy and can cause serious health problems. It can also cause health problems for the pregnant person if there is a miscarriage or stillbirth.
Since 2019, congenital syphilis births in Michigan have increased more than 200%. Syphilis rates have also drastically increased for those ages 20-45 and in heterosexual people.
Getting tested for syphilis is important, especially for pregnant people. All sexually active people are encouraged to ask for a syphilis blood test when getting tested for other STIs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and HIV. Most local health departments offer no or low-cost testing and many medical providers can order this test.
If you have questions about syphilis or other STIs, please call the Michigan HIV/STI Hotline at 800-872-2437 or visit misexualhealthinfo.com.
Syphilis is a preventable and treatable sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause serious health problems if left untreated. Syphilis is spread through vaginal, anal or oral sex. People can also pass syphilis to babies during pregnancy (congenital syphilis). Syphilis develops in stages (primary, secondary, latent and tertiary).
Signs and Symptoms
There are different signs and symptoms at each stage of syphilis. Many people do not notice any signs or symptoms.
Without treatment, syphilis can spread during any stage to the brain and nervous system (neurosyphilis), the eye (ocular syphilis) or the ear (otosyphilis). Signs and symptoms can include:
Testing
Health care providers typically use a blood test to test for syphilis. All sexually active Michiganders are encouraged to ask for a syphilis blood test when getting tested for other STIs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and HIV. Most local public health departments offer no or low-cost testing and many medical providers can order this test. Find STI testing near you.
Treatment
Syphilis is treated and cured with antibiotics. Bicillin L-A® is the recommended treatment for syphilis and the only treatment option for some people.
Without treatment, syphilis can cause long-lasting harm. Follow-up testing by a health care provider should be done after treatment to make sure the infection is cured.
Resources
Congenital syphilis happens when people pass syphilis to their babies during pregnancy. Congenital syphilis can cause serious health problems, such as:
The only way to know if you have syphilis is to get tested. If you are pregnant, you should get tested for syphilis at these times:
Syphilis can be treated and cured with medication to prevent transmission. Getting treatment early and staying on track with treatment is key to making sure your baby is healthy.
Resources:
Partner Services
Partner Services is a free program that helps people with some STIs, including syphilis, contact their sex and needle-sharing partners to help them get tested. Notifying your current and past sex and/or needle-sharing partners is an important step if you are diagnosed with an STI. Partner Services can notify your partners in a way that protects your confidentiality.
Medication to Prevent STIs
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (Doxy PEP) is medication taken after sex to lower the chance of some STIs including syphilis. Doxy PEP is recommended for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women that are more likely to get bacterial STIs. Doxy PEP has been shown to reduce syphilis infections by more than 70% when taken within 72 hours after sex. Talk to your health care provider if you think doxy PEP would be a good option for you.
Resources
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP) has proven to reduce the chance of getting a bacterial STI for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women that are more likely to get these infections (specifically, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea). MDHHS highly encourages the adoption of doxy PEP to combat increasing bacterial STIs in Michigan.
Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) work in state and local health departments to ensure patients are treated and to stop transmission of STIs. Most new syphilis cases are assigned to a DIS to ensure reporting, follow-up, etc. DIS help providers across Michigan with new diagnoses, sharing comprehensive syphilis history and discussing treatment. All personal information patients share with DIS is confidential. For assistance with follow-up for patients that have been tested and diagnosed with syphilis, see the MDHHS HIV & STI Outreach Contact Directory.
Partner Services staff, including DIS, can reach out to notify and provide follow-up for partners of patients. Partner Services includes testing and treatment of partners, counseling and the same level of DIS follow-up that patients receive.
STI Educational Materials
If you would like to request brochures or other communication materials that can be used to educate, inform and increase awareness around HIV and STIs, please use SHOARS to submit a supply order request.
Please Note: Some brochures and other communication materials may be out of stock, discontinued or unavailable per contractual agreements. If there are any questions or concerns regarding this process, please reach out to MDHHS-SHOARS-SUPPORT@michigan.gov.
For detailed instructions on how to register for SHOARS and submit a supply order request, visit Michigan.gov/SHOARS.
Since 2019, congenital syphilis births in Michigan have increased more than 200%. In the same time, syphilis rates have also drastically increased for those ages 20-45 and in heterosexual people.
Data reports on STIs in Michigan including diagnoses and diagnosis trends can be viewed at HIV & STI Data & Statistics Reports.
In response to increasing rates of syphilis, especially among pregnant persons (congenital syphilis), MDHHS has launched the "Stop Syphilis" campaign. This campaign underscores MDHHS’s commitment to raising awareness about the importance of syphilis testing among sexually active individuals living in Michigan.
The Stop Syphilis campaign aims to increase awareness of and testing for syphilis. Primary focus areas for the campaign will be the city of Detroit, Kalamazoo, Washtenaw and Genesee counties which have historically shown the highest positive case rates of infectious syphilis in Michigan. The campaign features three different creative materials to promote the importance of testing for syphilis to the wide demographic of those increasingly affected by syphilis.
