Table 1.
Strategies implemented according to the WHO 2016 framework.
| Authors | Year | Strategic direction 1: Information for focused action - the “who” and “where”? | Strategic direction 2: Interventions for impact - the “what”? | Strategic direction 3: Delivering for equity - the “how” | Strategic direction 4: Financing for sustainability - The financing | Strategic direction 5: Innovation for acceleration - The future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor et al. (11) | 2017 | Cuba, Thailand, Belarus, Armenia, and Moldova: Congenital syphilis | Universal care access, routine antenatal screening, legal frameworks, primary care services. | No | No | No |
| Leichliter et al. (12) | 2017 | USA: Pregnant women | Prenatal syphilis screening. | No | No | No |
| Chemtob et al. (13) | 2017 | Israel: Sexually active adolescents and adults | High-Intensity Behavioral Counseling; condoms distribution and STI testing | No | No | No |
| Rodrigues and Domingues (14) | 2017 | Brazil: Pregnant women | No | No | No | No |
| WHO (15) | 2017 | Asia: Cambodia (congenital syphilis) and China (pregnant women) | Cambodia: Evaluation of HIV–syphilis dual testing; China: National STI control program strategy is to integrate syphilis control activities with existing HIV control programs | No | No | No |
| Akhtar and Rehman (16) | 2018 | Lusaka, Zambia: Pregnant women | Universal antenatal screening | No | No | No |
| Ong et al. (17) | 2018 | Worldwide: Key population | Syphilis testing in key populations | Syphilis testing programs: Focused on MSM | No | No |
| Leal et al. (18) | 2018 | Brazil: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Universalization of medical assistance | Guaranteed by the SUS, with reducing inequalities in access and coverage | Provided by the Rede Cegonha Program | No |
| Kroeger et al. (19) | 2018 | Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA: Congenital syphilis | No | No | No | No |
| Andrade et al. (20) | 2020 | Northeast, Brazil: Pregnant women | VDRL exams - up to the 20th week of pregnancy and between the 28th and 36th week of pregnancy | No | No | No |
| Acharya et al. (21) | 2020 | Nepal: General syphilis | STIs counseling, diagnosis and treatment services | No | No | No |
| Liu et al. (22) | 2020 | California, USA: Key population | Expansion of screened populations for syphilis and targeted screening interventions | No | No | No |
| Kimball et al. (23) | 2020 | Florida, Louisiana and New York, USA: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Syphilis testing early in the third trimester | No | No | No |
| Herrero et al. (24) | 2020 | Argentina: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Strategy to achieve elimination of the MTCT of HIV and congenital syphilis | No | No | No |
| Priamo et al. (25) | 2020 | Bahia, Brazil: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Planning actions to qualify prenatal care | No | No | No |
| Andrade et al. (26) | 2020 | Brazil: Congenital syphilis | Surveillance and health care, educommunication, governance, and syphilis research | Strengthening sexual health and reproductive health actions, especially in the context of primary care | Project “Syphilis No” - an integrated and collaborative response to syphilis that articulates health care points in an inter-federative relationship | Articulating social sectors and communities to strengthen a rapid response to syphilis |
| WHO (27) | 2020 | Ukraine: Pregnant women | Antenatal care, testing and treatment for HIV, and testing for syphilis | No | No | No |
| Sykes et al. (28) | 2021 | Arizona, USA: Pregnant women | Serologic testing for syphilis at 28 to 32 weeks of gestation, among “pregnant syphilis case(s) | No | No | No |
| Pinto et al. (29) | 2021 | Brazil: General and congenital syphilis | Implemented a network of Research and Intervention Supporters, to combat syphilis in priority municipalities; Campaign to fight the syphilis epidemic in the country |
The role of the Supporters was to enhance action in priority municipalities and create a link between the Ministry of Health and local actors (municipal managers, health professionals, and the population) |
Project “Syphilis No”: National Agenda for Strategic Actions to Reduce Syphilis in Brazil | Adaptive model for the discovery and temporal analysis of the health campaign reach. Were implemented into Hermes system, and it manages the complete data life cycle |
| PAHO (30) | 2021 | Peru: Congenital syphilis and key population | Use of rapid syphilis tests, rapid dual HIV/syphilis tests since 2017–2018, strengthening laboratory capacity and networks, strengthening STI case reporting, combination HIV/STI prevention | Decentralization of treatment to the first level of care | A National 2017–2021 Plan commits the country to eliminate congenital syphilis by 2021 | Applied a compartmental dynamical model of adult syphilis transmission to examine possible future program scale-up scenarios and inform national STI control strategies and targets |
| Zorilla et al. (31) | 2021 | Puerto Rico: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Prenatal testing HIV/syphilis, allowed for the availability of treatment during pregnancy and entailed training of health professionals in obstetrical and pediatric hospitals |
Safeguarding the commitment and investment in research, training, outreach, and women-centered care |
Early screening policy | No |
| Du et al. 32] | 2022 | China: Pregnant women and congenital syphilis | Health care services were initially provided to all pregnant women with HIV/syphilis/hepatitis B who attended the national sentinel sites |
Service network of women and children's health (WCH) has been gradually formed, which is composed of general hospitals, WCH institutions, and community-based healthcare services at multiple levels, province, district, county, township, and village |
China launched a pilot project on the prevention of MTCT (PMTCT) in eight counties (cities, districts) of five provinces (regions) in 2002 | No |
| Tang et al. (33) | 2022 | China: Congenital syphilis in Guangdong Province | Integrating the syphilis screening with health education, the standard treatment for pregnant women and the follow-up of infants of congenital syphilis patients, alongside supportive strategies from the government | The preventive and control measures | The National Program of Syphilis Control and Prevention 2010–2020 | No |
Source: Prepared by the authors (2022).