Urban community randomisation trial of sexually transmitted diseases prevention
Project
In some developing countries the major curable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) - gonorrhoea, chlamydial infection, syphilis and trichomonas infection - together make up women's second largest preventable disease burden. Two strategies now tend to be promoted for prevention of STDs in developing countries:
- simplified treatment of the symptoms of STDs without recourse to expensive diagnostic tests
- where commercial sex activities are a significant contributory factor, outreach to female sex workers and their clients to increase condom usage, and to detect and treat STDs in sex workers.
However, how well these approaches actually work has not been studied in detail, and their large-scale use is limited.
This programme will explore the impact of these interventions in 24 Peruvian cities. Cities will be randomly assigned to one of three groups - no intervention, simplified treatment and outreach - to assess whether the interventions have any effect on the incidence of STDs in the local population. The programme will explore the effect of the interventions on antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea, and record any other changes in the characteristics and behaviour of this microbe in response to the public health measures.
Applicants
Professor K K Holmes
Department of Epidemiology, Centre for Health Studies, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Professor Patricia Garcia
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
Dr G Garnett
Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, University of Oxford, UK
Professor P Campos
Instituto De Medicina Tropical, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
Dr C Carcamo
International Aids Research and Training Programme, University of Washington, Lima, Peru