INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING OF PATIENTS WITH SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES - A WAY TO IMPROVE PARTNER NOTIFICATION IN A ZAMBIAN SETTING

Background: Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are a major health pro blem in Zambia, Partner notification, which is a recommended strategy to decrease STD, must be improved, Goal: To assess whether individual counseling of patients with STD, combined with contact slip(s), had an y impact on the proportion of sex partners traced in an urban setting in Zambia, Study Design: A randomized trial comprised of 94 women and 302 men with STD, Results: Women and men in the intervention group inf ormed more partners than did those in the control group. In the interv ention group, 1.8 partners per man was treated compared to 1.2 in the control group (P < 0.001). There was no difference between the two gro ups of women. There was a gradual decline from numbers of partners inf ormed to numbers of partners treated according to the patient to numbe r of contact slips filed, Conclusions: Individual counseling of men wi th STD improved partner notification.