Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in women attending antenatal care in Tete province, Mozambique

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of C trachomatis (CT), N gonorrhoeae (NG) and syphilis in pregnant women.
Methods: Cross sectional study among women attending antenatal care. Blood samples were tested for syphilis using the RPR and TPHA test; Chlamydia and gonorrhoea were diagnosed using a manual polymerase chain reaction assay on first void urine samples. A socio-demographic questionnaire was filled out. Results were compared with previous published data on STI prevalence in Mozambique.
Results: Blood and urine samples were collected from 1119 and 835 women, respectively. Prevalence of CT was 4.1% and of NG 2.5%. The RPR test was positive in 5.2% of the women and 7.1% had a positive TPHA test. Active syphilis was found in 4.7%. In univariate analysis, CT was associated with having had any level of education (p< 0.05); reactive RPR and TPHA were associated with illiteracy (p< 0.05), TPHA was associated with age older than 25. Multivariate analysis did not show any significant association. In comparison to published data from 1993, a decline was observed for CT (p<0.05), NG and syphilis (p< 0.001).
Conclusions: Compared to available data, a decline of STI prevalence was observed in our setting. This might be the result of community based education programmes focusing on change of sexual behaviour as well as to the widespread use of the syndromic approach to manage STI and the expansion of syphilis screening in primary health care settings. However the STI rates are still high and the problem needs more concrete and sustained efforts for its control.