South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the world, including for gonorrhoea. It is estimated that every year around two million people in the country get infected with the gonorrhoea bacterium, which is likely to be an underestimate because most women don’t show any symptoms, according to a study published in the journal
PLOS ONE in 2018.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, globally, there are 87 million cases of gonorrhoea annually, with the African region having the highest burden.
“If you look at the global number, South Africa represents about 2% of the cases which is quite high and could be an underestimate for a number of reasons including under reporting and that women especially don’t show symptoms,” says Edward Mukwaya, who is the local clinical trial manager for a new antibiotic study being run, and fully funded by, the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP).