Knowledge gaps of STIs in Africa; Systematic review.

Marwan M Badawi,Widad M Osman,Zeinab H Osman,Alaa B Idris,Elfatih A Hasabo,Maryam A Salaheldin,Jayanta Bhattacharya

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213224

Abstract

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are ambiguous burden of tremendous health, social and economic consequences. The current systematic review was conducted in order to determine awareness and knowledge of Africans toward sexually transmitted infections, not only concerning HIV/AIDS, but also other STIs such as gonorrhea, syphilis, HBV, HCV and HPV. A systematic review of literature was conducted, studies were retrieved and selected after fulfilling the inclusion criteria as well as passing the assessment procedure. Related data was extracted, quantitative analysis was conducted among participants who responded to questions related to HIV, HBV, HCV, HPV or STIs knowledge, sensitivity analysis as well as subgroup analysis were also conducted. Seventy four articles addressing knowledge among 35 African countries were included and 136 questions were analyzed and synthesized. The question “does using condom reduces HIV transmission?” was answered by 1,316,873 Africans in 35 countries, 66.8% [95% Cl; 62.6, 70.9] answered yes. While the question “is sexual contact a possible route of HBV transmission?” was answered by 7,490 participants in 5 countries; 42.5% [95% Cl; 20.4, 64.7] answered yes. The differences observed among populations are highlighting the possibility for improvement by directing light toward specific populations as well as addressing specific awareness knowledge to ensure that the general as well as the related specific preventive knowledge is improved.

Highlights

Transmitted Infections (STIs) are ambiguous burden of tremendous health, social and economic consequences
According to UNAIDS; almost 37 million people globally were living with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2017, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66% of the cases, 68% of new adult HIV infections, 92% of new infections in children and 72% of all AIDS-related deaths
Heterogeneity was high in all questions (I2 more than 80%)

Summary

Introduction

Transmitted Infections (STIs) are ambiguous burden of tremendous health, social and economic consequences. Many STIs are hidden because many people may feel stigmatized when addressing them. The committee on prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases in USA estimated that the annual costs of selected major STDs are approximately $10 billion or, if sexually transmitted HIV is included, $17 billion [1]. According to UNAIDS; almost 37 million people globally were living with HIV in 2017, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66% of the cases, 68% of new adult HIV infections, 92% of new infections in children and 72% of all AIDS-related deaths. Earlier in 2009, Swaziland topped the world’s HIV epidemic countries with a 26% prevalence among adults, while South Africa was the country with the world’s largest prevalence of people living with HIV as 5.6 million [2,3]

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Discussion

Conclusion