Where have all the STDs gone?

A review of the clinic records of patients attending the UCH Ibadan, Special Treatment Clinic show that the number of patients seen for treatment has been on the decline. In 1979, 914 patients attended the clinic. From then there was a steady increase until a peak in 1987, when 2,610 were seen. After this, a decline began which reached its lowest ebb in 1994, when only 378 patients were seen in 1996, 735 patients attended the clinic. In the men non-specific urethritis was consistently the commonest STDs, its prevalence ranging between 22.8% and 32.0%. It was followed by gonorrhea, with a prevalence between 9.8% and 21.6%. In the females, candidiasis was diagnosed most often (prevalence was between 17.3% and 34.2%) followed by non-specific vaginitis (10.6%-27.2%). The factors that have contributed to this decline were identified to be the introduction of fees, social strife, and reduced quality of services offered as a result of the depressed economy. The overall place of STCs in the control of STDs is also discussed.