GASP-WAR: west African network to tackle gonorrhoea

Sir Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are important cofactors in the spread of HIV, and STI case management can prevent HIV transmission.1 STI control depends on the availability of effective antimicrobials against the most prevalent STI pathogens. In practice, only Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Haemophilus ducreyi (the agent of chancroid) present serious difficulties for antimicrobial resistance to common and cheap antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, and co-trimoxazole (sulpha-methoxazole/trimethoprim five/one).2 WHO has stated that the development of antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhoea was one of the major health care disasters of the 20th century.3 To maintain effective treatment of gonorrhoea, a system of testing and routine surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility is essential. How can African countries tackle this issue? A workshop, held in The Gambia under the auspices of the National Health Laboratories and the Medical Research Council Laboratories, and the National HIV/AIDS and STI Control Program of Senegal, and attended by 25 experts from eight countries, tried to lay the foundations of a GASP network for the west African region (GASP-WAR).