The International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI)

IUSTI Regions: Africa

UAIST (Union Africaine contre les Infections Sexuellement Transmissibles) / IUSTI-Africa

July 2007: Published in English, French, Portuguese. Topics covered included country reports from Benin and Nigeria, an STI microbiological surveillance report from South Africa, a research review on the male circumcision trials and news about the WHO’s Global Strategy.

December 2007 newsletter: New! Published in English, French, Portuguese (pdf, 832Kb), with a country focus on Zambia (Pierre Yassa), a review of the syndromic management of STIs 25 years on (Dr Ahmed Latif), an overview on the surveillance of STIs (Sakhile Mhlongo) and a presentation on Challenges for Africa (David Lewis).

News

Both associate and full membership of IUSTI-Africa have continued to rise during the course of 2007. The joint ISSTDR-IUSTI meeting in Seattle this year presented a good opportunity to increase the African membership. Several pieces of research were presented from Africa at this joint ISSTDR-IUSTI meeting (see below) and several new friendships and relationships were forged among IUSTI-Africa members.

The Region, whilst facing an HIV epidemic of huge proportions, is awaiting the roll out of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections.

ICASA Meeting

Invitations and calls for abstracts for the International Meeting on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA) 2008 meeting in Dakar, Senegal, are now available from this web site in French and English (pdf, 2.3Mb). IUSTI-Africa is a coorganizer of this meeting.

Other African Meetings

19-22 July 2009: International AIDS Society conference. Cape Town, S. Africa.

For other meetings see events.

IUSTI-AFRICA member wins best poster prize at the Seattle ISSTDR-World IUSTI Meeting, July 2007

Congratulations to Mr. Frans Radebe, of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Reference Centre at the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases, who won an IUSTI prize and medal for the best poster at the recent joint meeting of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research (ISSTDR) and the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) in Seattle. The conference attracted approximately 1,300 delegates, and over 600 abstracts were accepted for poster presentation. Frans Radebe’s poster was entitled “Early detection of HIV-1 specific lymphocyte derived antibodies in a high risk population”. The poster described results from a novel test, manufactured by PlasmAcute AS in Norway, to detect immature antibodies among miners and detected seroconversions at the same time, or in one subject, before detection of plasma HIV-1 RNA. Well done, Frans!

11th IUSTI World Congress 9th - 12th November 2009, Cape Town, South Africa.

The conference will take place on the Spier's Wine Estate, home of some of South Africa's finest wine. It promises to be a truly exceptional event. The theme of the conference will be "STI's: Old Problems and New Solutions" with parts of the scientific programme strongly linked to issues in African. Registration will be from 14.00 to 17.30 on Monday 9th November followed by a welcome reception with an African Theme, drummers and dancers. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been approached. Plenary and breakout parallel sessions will be allocated for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. The conference will close on the afternoon of 12th November with the closing lecture "STI management in HIV prevention: what have we learned in Africa" followed by a farewell tea. The initial call for abstracts is likely to be February 2009 with a deadline of the end of July 2009.

Accommodation will include the Spier Hotel (4*) on the wine estate and the Protea Hotel (Stellenbosch). The latter overlooks the Helderberg Mountains and is flanked by two international golf courses (!) and the Kleine Zalze wine estate. Bed and Breakfast accommodation is also available in Stellenbosch.

Social events planned include tours to Kruger National Park, the Cape Garden Route, Cape Town etc. Options are expected to include safaris, whale watching, wine-tasting etc. The conference provides a great opportunity to plan a holiday in South Africa. Watch this site for further news.

Here are some web links to whet your appetite prior to the launching of the conference website.

Spier's Wine estate (Requires Adobe Flash, which most computers have).

Cape Town tourism

Kruger National Park

Other Conferences in Africa