Remarks

• Human rights: STI partner services must always be voluntary and nevermandatory. Coercive or forced testing is never warranted. All consentingpatients should have their privacy protected and personal information should bekept confidential.
• Important to offer options: There are a range of STI partner services thatshould be offered based on patient preferences, feasibility and resourcesavailable. Partner services include several options, such as simple patientreferral, enhanced patient referral, delayed provider referral, provider–patientreferral, provider-assisted referral and social network approaches. Approacheswith provider (health worker) support are particularly effective and can beprioritized or encouraged where feasible. Expedited partner therapy (EPT) couldalso be considered as part of partner services for some curable STIs, such aschlamydia or gonorrhoea.
• Linkage: Linkage to STI management services for sexual partners is an essentialcomponent of STI services.
• Integration: STI partner services should be based within a broader programmeand package of services. It is important to build on existing services (e.g. sexualand reproductive health services and family planning services), and integrateddelivery across disease areas (e.g. HIV and viral hepatitis).