PREreview de Improving Antenatal Syphilis Screening and Treatment Coverage in Public Health Facilities in Kampala, Uganda: A Pre-Implementation and Implementation-Phase Study

Write a short summary of the research’s main findings and how this work has moved the field forward.

The intervention of this study was introducing same-day HIV/syphilis antibody testing, on-site treatment, and partner notification. The findings of this study include syphilis screening among women attending their first ANC visit going from 55.2% to 88.3%, same-day treatment among those who tested positive increased from 74% to 100%, and partner testing increased from 11.8% to 62%. This work contributes to the field of public health by demonstrating how integrating rapid testing and treatment into routine antenatal care may improve access to timely syphilis services in resource-limited settings.

Major issues

• The study lacks a concurrent control group, which means that it may be difficult to determine if the improvements were caused by the intervention or were from other factors.

• There could be issues with data quality, as the relies on data from January–December 2020 and June 2021–July 2022. Any changes in documentation could influence the observed differences in screening and treatment coverage.

Minor issues

• The authors could have discussed the remaining treatment gaps. Although maternal screening and treatment improved substantially, only 41% of eligible infants completed intravenous treatment.

• The authors could better explain how women were classified as high-risk for syphilis and how infants were classified as having confirmed or possible congenital syphilis.

Competing interests

The author declares that they have no competing interests.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The author declares that they did not use generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.