1. STRATEGIES FOR STI PREVENTION AND CONTROL

2. Objectives: KEY CONCEPTS you will learn:
Explain strategies of STIs prevention and control
Discuss challenges of STI prevention and control

3. The Main Aims of STIs Prevention and Control are:-
Interrupting the transmission of STIs
Prevent development of disease and complications
Reducing the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV

4. Prevention and Control of STIs Involves
Early diagnosis and treatment
Promotion of safer sexual behavior
Promotion of health care-seeking behavior,
Targeting vulnerable groups

6. Primary prevention Safer sexual behaviors
abstain from sexual activity altogether
delaying the age of sexual debut
life-long mutual monogamy
engaging only in non-penetrative sex acts
engaging in penetrative sex acts only if condoms (male or female) are used

7. Secondary prevention Promoting STI care-seeking behavior, through:
public education campaigns
providing non-stigmatizing and non-discriminatory health facilities
providing quality STI care
ensuring a continuous supply of highly effective drugs
ensuring a continuous supply of condoms

8. Secondary prevention…Cont’d
Rapid and effective treatment of people with STIs:
comprehensive case management of STI syndromes
to make a correct diagnosis
to provide correct antimicrobial therapy for the STI syndrome
to educate on the nature of the infection, safer sexual behavior, safe sex acts and risk reduction in order to prevent or reduce future risk-taking behaviour
to educate on treatment compliance

9. Secondary prevention…Cont’d
Comprehensive management ….Cont’d
to demonstrate the correct use of condoms and provision of condoms
to advise on how the patient’s partners may be treated and to issue a Partner Referral card for the patient to pass on to his/her partner(s).
training of service providers in case management

10. Secondary prevention…Cont’d
Case finding and screening:
examining minimally symptomatic women attending clinics for maternal and child health and family planning
partner notification and treatment
education, investigation and treatment of targeted population groups who may have placed themselves at risk of infection
testing of blood donors for syphilis, HIV and hepatitis B
community-based screening

11. Secondary prevention…Cont’d
Provision of prophylactic antibiotics against major STIs for victims of sexual violence
Integration of STI services within primary care

12. CHALLENGES OF CONTROLLING STIs

13. Challenges are due to: Factors related to health system
Biological factors
Social and behavioral factors

14. Health System Factors
Health service may be unavailable, too far way, expensive, or considered stigmatizing
There may be little emphasis on education and other efforts to prevent STIs
Health services may not have effective drugs
Difficulty of partner management

15. Biological factors
70%-80% of infected women may be asymptomatic and so will not seek treatment
Such people will continue to be infected, risking complications and perhaps infecting others

16. Social and behavioral factors
Reluctance to seek health care
Ignorance or misinformation
A preference for alternative health care service
Reluctance to follow safe sex practices
The social stigma often attached to STI

17. Social and behavioral factors ….Cont’d
Failure to take full prescribed course of treatment
Difficulty of notifying sexual partners