TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), together with other members of the STI Working Group for the Pacific and the Fiji School of Medicine, are co-facilitating a training of trainers in comprehensive sexually transmitted infections (STIs) case management for 30 health professionals from 10 Pacific Island countries. The training will take place in Suva, Fiji from 20-25 October.

Improving STI case management is a priority intervention of the Pacific Regional Strategy Implementation Plan on HIV and other STIs, and the Regional Strategic Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections 2008...–2012. With the exception of Papua New Guinea, Pacific Island countries have low HIV prevalence rates. However, that situation may drastically change unless urgent measures are taken to control other STIs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis.


During 2004 and 2005, second generation surveillance surveys were conducted by WHO and SPC in six Pacific Island countries in which 1619 pregnant women were surveyed. These surveys showed that STIs are common in the Pacific; the chlamydia prevalence rate was as high as 29% in one of the countries surveyed.


WHO's representative in the South Pacific, Dr Chen Ken stated, "This training of trainers in the area of comprehensive STI case management is important for the Pacific and will improve health professionals' capacity to respond to the pertinent issue of STIs in the region. The participants will become trainers who are then responsible for rolling out the training at national level. The rollout of this capacity building in comprehensive STI case management at country level will maximize the health sector's contribution to scaling up towards universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment in Pacific Island countries."


SPC Director-General, Dr Jimmie Rodgers, said "The training will complement the increased capacity of many Pacific Island countries to test for specific STIs. In particular, chlamydia testing is currently being introduced in many Pacific Island countries' laboratories and this training will facilitate an integrated approach to STI management."


The five-day training of trainers and field testing of the training package has full support from the STI Working Group for the Pacific, which includes WHO, SPC, US CDC, UNICEF, UNFPA, the Oceania Society for Sexual Health and HIV Medicine (OSSHHM), and the Fiji School of Medicine. WHO/SPC, 20/10/08.