FHI - Managing STIs

DECEMBER 2008 — FHI/Zambia is proud to release the "STI Syndromic Management Flowchart." The flowchart, which is posted in health centers, provides recommended courses of treatment for STIs based on symptoms and risk assessment. The suggested treatments include pharmaceutical interventions, as well as counseling and risk-reduction education. The chart also indicates further treatment should the original course be proven ineffective, provides clinicians with a risk assessment protocol, and suggests when HIV counseling and testing should be provided.

Created for use as a job aid, the flowchart provides quick reference of national STI management guidelines to healthcare providers. One of the benefits of using the flowchart is that, after a brief and easy training session, any healthcare provider can use the chart and begin treatment without requiring a laboratory to make a diagnosis.

Designed for FHI's Corridors of Hope (COH II) project, the flowchart originally was intended for use in COH II partner health centers and among district health management teams in the COH II target districts. However, FHI/Zambia's technical leadership was recognized by the Ministry of Health, and the flowchart is now being distributed by the MOH and the CDC throughout the country as part of the MOH's STI management training program for health care providers.

PHOTO: istockphoto.com