 |
The
ESSTI network is a working collaboration between STI surveillance
heads and STI reference microbiologists of 25 countries (22 EU member
states and Iceland, Norway and Turkey).
Established in 2001, the ESSTI network aims to improve collaboration
(multi-disciplinary, inter-network and multi-agency), build
capacity, and facilitate robust dissemination
of information on STIs to inform public health policy and planning
across European Union partners.
| |
| Rationale |
| |
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Europe are a
major public health concern. Untreated STIs can have serious
short- and long-term consequences for the individual. Emerging
health threats, in particular antimicrobial resistance; the
facilitation of HIV transmission by STI co-infection; the
driving of transmission by migration within and across EU
borders; and the growing burden on curative services, make
harmonisation of approaches to STI control across the EU an
urgent priority.
Considerable variations exist in the structure and performance
of current EU STI surveillance systems. Many EU countries
have poorly developed STI surveillance systems. All countries
need to share ideas to raise the quality of local systems
and to commit to common case definitions and ways of working.
There is therefore an urgent need for capacity building within
the EU. |
|
| |
| ESSTI key objectives for
2006 to 2008 |
| |
- To operate and develop the ESSTI network with EU member
states; EFTA-EEA; Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey
- To collate, analyse and report surveillance data on the
major acute STIs from participating countries
- To extend ESSTI_ALERT, the European early warning system
for STI outbreaks in Europe
- To implement a European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Susceptibility
Surveillance Project (Euro_GASP), including a quality assurance
system, recommended methods, training programmes and molecular
typing for outbreaks
- To deliver training programmes on STI surveillance; lab
diagnostics; and STI clinical management to network participants
- To disseminate information to European policymakers; professionals
and the public via the ESSTI website
|
|
| |
| ESSTI achievements |
| |
- ESSTI set up the EU STI outbreak early warning and response
system, ESSTI ALERT, in April
2003. Data on STI incidents and outbreaks are immediately
disseminated to our collaborators, and also collated into
a quarterly feedback report
|
|
| |
| ESSTI project leads |
| |
Professor Catherine Ison is a non-clinical
microbiologist. She is Director of the newly formed Sexually
Transmitted Bacteria Reference Laboratory (STBRL) at the Specialist
and Reference Microbiology Division of the Health Protection
Agency (HPA). She is also a Visiting Professor of Investigative
Science and Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College
London.
Her main interests are the genetics of antimicrobial resistance
and molecular epidemiology of gonorrhoea but she has also
worked on bacterial vaginosis and Haemophilus ducreyi. In
1997 she initiated the London Gonococcal Surveillance Programme,
which was extended nationally in 2000 (GRASP).
She was the founder of the Bacterial Special Interest Group
of the Medical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases
(MSSVD, now the British Association for Sexual Health and
HIV: BASHH) and is currently its chair. In her new role she
plans to strengthen microbiology of STIs in England and Wales
by providing a common focus for gonorrhoea, chlamydia and
syphilis and establishing strong collaborations, of which
the microbiology part of the ESSTI network is the first example.
|
| |
| |
Dr Catherine Lowndes is a Consultant Scientist in Epidemiology in the Department of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections at the Health Protection Agency, and an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has been working with the ESSTI Network Project since its inception in 2002, firstly as Scientific Coordinator, and currently as Surveillance Lead.
In addition to STI surveillance, her main interests are in HIV/STI epidemiology and prevention, particularly among vulnerable populations in developing countries, and she has worked in Brazil, Canada, Russia, West Africa and India. She is currently Scientific Coordinator of the CHARME: CHA-Avahan (Gates Foundation HIV Prevention Programme in India) Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Project.
|
|
|
 |
 |