What have we learned from sexually transmitted infection research in sub-Saharan Africa?

Many of the most important research findings on STIs in the past 30 years have come from sub-Saharan Africa. African researchers and their international collaborators have led the way in the development and validation of syndromic STI management, in furthering our understanding of the interactions between HIV and other STIs, in the development of evidence-based strategies for the control of HIV and other STIs in high risk groups and in the general population, and in clinical, microbiological and epidemiological studies on syphilis, chancroid and ophthalmia neonatorum. This review summarises the major achievements of STI researchers in Africa in the past 30 years, and discusses the reasons underlying the success of STI research in Africa.