How can burdens and trends of gonorrhoea and syphilis be estimated using surveillance data routinely collected in low- and middle-income countries?

Eline Korenromp, epidemiologist from the Avenir Health, Geneva, Switzerland, tells STI Editor Jackie Cassell how the Spectrum-STI tool, developed at request of the World Health Organization, facilitates standardised, country-level estimation of trends in adult prevalence of sexually transmitted infections.

The Spectrum-STI is an epidemiological framework which facilitates data review, validation and strategic analysis, prioritisation of data collection needs and surveillance strengthening by national experts. It has so far been applied in Zimbabwe, Morocco and Mongolia.