Data Detectives

In many low- and middle-income countries with a heavy HIV burden, data is sorely lacking on underlying STIs that up the risk.

“Current STI control programmes in low and middle-income countries rely on people experiencing symptoms in order to be diagnosed, which misses many infections,” said Suzanna Francis of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She’s lead author of a proof of concept study in PLOS Medicine demonstrating a more efficient method of collecting STI prevalence data in high-risk populations, such as sub-Saharan Africa.

Focusing on young people in rural South Africa, the study found that young women were more than twice as likely to be infected with chlamydia (5% in men and 11% in women), and genital herpes (17% in men and 29% in women).

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine