World Health Organization Global Health Sector Strategy on Sexually Transmitted Infections: An Evidence-to-Action Brief for Colombia

Abstract

Curable and incurable sexually transmitted infections (STI) are acquired by hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year. Undiagnosed and untreated STIs cause a range of negative health outcomes including adverse birth outcomes, infertility and other long term sequelae such as cervical cancer. In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global STI Strategy (2016–2021). The WHO Global STI Strategy’s public health approach focuses on three causative organisms of STIs that need immediate action and for which cost-effective interventions exist: (a) Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a cause of infertility, a risk factor for coinfection with other STIs and because of increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatment, (b) Treponema pallidum given the contribution of syphilis to adverse birth outcomes including stillbirth and neonatal death and (c) Human papillomavirus due to its link to cervical cancer. The range of actions recommended for countries includes: (a) strengthening surveillance, with program monitoring and progress evaluation, (b) STI prevention, (c) early diagnosis of STIs, (d) patient and partner management, and (e) approaches to reach the most vulnerable populations. This summary describes the WHO Global STI Strategy alongside findings from a STI surveillance workshop held in Colombia in May of 2017. Observations related to the Global STI Strategy and findings from the STI estimation workshop are described here for stakeholders in Colombia to consider as they identify opportunities to improve STI services and surveillance.

Prevalence and incidence estimates for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and congenital syphilis in Colombia, 1995–2016

“…Spectrum-STI fits a moving average time trend of gonorrhea and chlamydia prevalence for adult women, through available data points. Prevalence data were identified from studies conducted between 1995 and 2016 in populations representative of Colombia's general adult population, identified through a PubMed search and by national STI experts during a national STI estimation workshop in May 2017 (8). Qualifying surveys include those among pregnant women, women attending family planning clinics, and adult women or men tested through household surveys.…”

“…Incidence was derived from prevalence by applying average durations of infection to estimated prevalence (4, 5), weighted between episodes treated and of shorter duration, and episodes untreated of a longer duration. Per consensus among experts at the 2017 national workshop (8), STI episode durations were those used in the 2012 WHO methodology for countries with low treatment access (9). These assumed that an average of 35% of men with symptomatic gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis are treated.…”

A conceptual review of rhodanine: current applications of antiviral drugs, anticancer and antimicrobial activities

“…Implementing the "prevention and treatment" plan in the world to deal with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic has led to a negligible reduction in the amount of infection worldwide. It is worth mentioning that the sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV-1, has caused concern throughout the world, especially in deprived areas [80]. On the other hand, since 2010, there has been no significant reduction in the number of people with this new HIV infection in most countries.…”

Knowledge, Attitude, and the Real Practice of General Dental Practitioners in Shiraz, Iran Towards Accepting HIV-Positive Patients

“…The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is caused by a retrovirus that affects the immune system. It is very important to understand and genuinely believe that HIV-infected people are patients and victims with the right to be treated by health professionals like other patients (1,2).…”