1.2
Partner Services
Guidelines for Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections, 5th Edition, 2025. Chapter 1, Prevention & Service Integration.
Treatment
STI partner services must always be informed, voluntary and never coercive. Protect patient and partner privacy.
Patient education and consent
- Explain: partners are often 'silently infected' (have no symptoms) but suffer long-term harm if untreated.
- Emphasise: it is in the patient's own interest to have all partners complete treatment to avert re-infection.
- Stress abstaining from condomless sex until patient and all partners have completed treatment and all symptoms have resolved.
- Proceed only if verbal consent is obtained.
Implementing partner notification
Take a sexual history focusing on the 5 P's: Partners (number in last 6 months), Practices (type of sexual contact), Protection (past condom use, vaccinations, PrEP), Past STI history, Pregnancy intention.
- Issue one separate STI referral slip for each partner with recent unprotected contact.
Highest priority for partner referral
- Partners of pregnant women who tested positive for syphilis — risk of severe adverse birth outcomes.
- Partners of AGYW with chlamydial infections or vaginal discharge — risk of infertility.
- MSM with MUDS/gonorrhoea and multiple partners — risk of antimicrobial resistance.
Treat all partners, symptomatic or asymptomatic. Symptomatic partners: treat the diagnosed syndrome. Asymptomatic: follow partner-treatment instructions under the index patient's syndrome.
Check doses against the printed guideline and your clinical judgement before treating a patient. Spotted an error? Report it from the contact links below.
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