Operational performance of an STD control programme in Mwanza Region, Tanzania.

Objectives: To describe important details of the design and operational features of the Mwanza sexually transmitted diseases (STD) control programme. To assess the feasibility of the intervention, the distribution of STD syndromes observed, the clinical effectiveness of syndromic STD case management, the utilisation of STD services by the population, and the quality of syndromic STD services delivered at rural health units.

Methods: The intervention was integrated into rural primary healthcare (PHC) units.

Syndromic treatment of sexually transmitted diseases reduces the proportion of incident HIV infections attributable to these diseases in rural Tanzania.

Objectives: To compare the proportion of HIV seroconversions attributable to other sexually transmitted diseases in the intervention and comparison arms of the Mwanza sexually transmitted diseases (STD) intervention trial.

Design: Case-control study of 96 cases of HIV seroconversion and 974 HIV-negative controls, nested within the Mwanza trial cohort.

Methods: Data on reported STD symptoms during 2 years of follow-up, and serological evidence of recent syphilis, were used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) for HIV seroconversion, adjusted for community, age, marital status, sex partners and travel.

Improved treatment services significantly reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in rural Tanzania: results of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of improved case management for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) at the primary health care level on the incidence and prevalence of STD.

Design: Community-randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Mwanza region, Tanzania.

Impact of improved treatment of sexually transmitted diseases on HIV infection in rural Tanzania: randomised controlled trial.

A randomised trial was done to evaluate the impact of improved sexually transmitted disease (STD) case management at primary health care level on the incidence of HIV infection in the rural Mwanza region of Tanzania. HIV incidence was compared in six intervention communities and six pair-matched comparison communities. A random cohort of about 1000 adults aged 15-54 years from each community was surveyed at baseline and at follow-up 2 years later.