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The Conference will impact the development of national Chlamydia and HPV strategies. Now in the most European countries, Chlamydia and HPV testing is available at gynecology and STI clinics; it may also be provided by urology, primary care and family planning clinics. However, many countries do not have guidelines applicable to each setting. There is variation in the recommendations between different guidelines, for example in the need for repeat testing. The expected outcome of the Conference is the emphasis of the relevance to summarize the essentials of existing guidelines.
Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for Chlamydia and HPV detection are available in all European countries, but are not always used routinely. The impact of Conference shall be realized by recommendations for widely use of NAATs in Europe.
Most countries have a system for surveillance of Chlamydia infections. The most common system was a statutory requirement for all laboratory diagnosed chlamydia to be reported at the national level. However, in some countries only cases diagnosed in selected settings (e.g. STI and gynaecology clinics) are reported. Some countries had no reporting system for Chlamydia and about a third of EU Member States do not report Chlamydia surveillance data. The outcome of the Conference has to be the emphasis to develop the recommendation with aim to reduce the number of European countries without no reporting activities.
Many EU Member States indicated that no Chlamydia and/or HPV screening programme was in place. In some countries, asymptomatic individuals may be tested for Chlamydia and/or HPV when they attend health services. The groups targeted for such opportunistic screening vary between and within countries and such programmes are under development. For instance, pilot programmes using register-based postal invitations to find out Chlamydia cases are underway or planned in the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. The outcome of the Conference shall be the emphasis of the relevance to analyze of such screening programmes including financial costs. It is not publicly available now.
Organizers received 58 filled questionnaires from the Conference participants. Majority of respondents highly appreciated scientific level of Conference sessions either relating Chlamydia or HPV, and many guess that Conference will help to develop Chlamydia and HPV screening.
Best Conference speakers were Per-Anders Mardh, Max Chernesky, and Magnus Unemo. Almost all agreed that we need to organize the next European Chlamydia and HPV Conference.
You can download detailed Results of questionnaires.
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