AUSTRALIA: "Government to Consider Plan for Mass Indigenous STI
Treatment"

In remote Aboriginal communities where sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) are endemic, the government should consider blanket
treatment instead of current "screen and treat" programs, health
experts reported Monday. Under the plan, indigenous Australians as
young as 10 would be treated with antibiotics to combat high rates of
chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. In some communities, one-
fourth of indigenous women have an STI.

"We believe that it is time to radically change the approach to the
control of STIs in high-prevalence populations," wrote Australian
National University Professor Francis Bowden and Melbourne physician
Katherine Fethers.

The plan has "all the hallmarks of something that could work" if it
were supported by the community, said Peter Beaumont, president of
the Australian Medical Association's Northern Territory branch. "From
my experience, this will not work unless indigenous people within
communities are presented with how it might help their community" and
people choose whether to accept it, he said.

"The first step must be to identify communities that might be pilot
studies and for public health officials to approach them, present
them with the facts, and ask them if they would like to take part in
a trial," Beaumont said. The strategy could use existing health
infrastructure, he said, and proper dosing would minimize the
potential for antibiotic resistance.

"The current approach doesn't seem to be working," Health Minister
Nicola Roxon acknowledged to ABC radio. "Now, this is one proposal
from a group of people who have a lot of expertise, so of course I
would take that seriously."

The full commentary, "'Let's Not Talk About Sex': Reconsidering the
Public Health Approach to Sexually Transmissible Infections in Remote
Indigenous Populations in Australia," was published in the Medical
Journal of Australia (2008;188(3):182-184).

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/188_03_040208/bow10673_fm.html

http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/listserv/prevention_news.asp.