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News/Event Item
Australia: Government to Consider Plan for Mass Indigenous STI Treatment
Feb. 5, 2008
In remote Aboriginal communities where sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are endemic, the government should consider blanket treatment instead of current "screen and treat" programs, health experts reported. Under the plan, indigenous Australians as young as 10 would be treated with antibiotics to combat high rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. In some communities, one-fourth of indigenous women have an STI.
"We believe that it is time to radically change the approach to the control of STIs in high-prevalence populations," wrote Australian National University Professor Francis Bowden and Melbourne physician Katherine Fethers.
The plan has "all the hallmarks of something that could work" if it were supported by the community, said Peter Beaumont, president of the Australian Medical Association's Northern Territory branch. "From my experience, this will not work unless indigenous people within communities are presented with how it might help their community" and people choose whether to accept it, he said.
© 2008 NPIN
For full article, visit:
http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50129
category: News from Other Sources : General Health News
contributed by Liza Nanni on 6 February 2008
Australia and New Zealand :
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