Application form

Sexually transmitted infections: An evidence-based online course

Course coordinators:
Dr Antonio Gerbase – Senior STI Consultant; Director, GFMER
Dr Ismail Maatouk – Professor of Dermatology and STIs, Lebanese American University, Beirut

Collaborating partners: Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) and World Health Organization (WHO)

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major global public health challenge, affecting people in all regions and income settings. Every day, more than one million curable STIs are acquired worldwide, and millions more people are affected by viral STIs. STIs contribute substantially to morbidity, adverse reproductive outcomes, infertility, neonatal complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV infection.

The burden of STIs falls disproportionately on women and adolescent girls, as well as on key populations including men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, and other vulnerable groups. Effective prevention, early diagnosis, timely treatment, and high-quality sexual health services are therefore essential components of universal health coverage.

Although all STIs are preventable and many are curable, their control remains challenging because many infections are asymptomatic, access to quality diagnostic services is limited in many settings, and surveillance systems are often inadequate.

This course provides participants with the latest evidence-based knowledge and practical skills for STI prevention, diagnosis, treatment, programme implementation, and research, drawing upon WHO recommendations and international field experience.

Goal

To strengthen the capacity of health professionals to deliver evidence-based prevention, diagnosis, treatment, programme implementation, and research in sexually transmitted infections through a comprehensive online course.

Objectives of the course

• Strengthen participants’ knowledge of STI epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
• Develop competencies in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating STI programmes.
• Promote evidence-based clinical practice in accordance with WHO recommendations.
• Enhance participants’ capacity to conduct training, operational research and programme evaluation.
• Foster multidisciplinary approaches integrating STI prevention, HIV, sexual health and human rights.

Course content

The course is based primarily on the latest WHO recommendations and international evidence. Teaching is complemented by the extensive field experience of an international faculty working in sexual and reproductive health across diverse settings.

Participants will gain practical knowledge applicable to both resource-limited and high-resource settings, with particular emphasis on evidence-based decision-making, programme implementation and clinical practice.

Topics to be covered in the course

Week 1

• STIs as a global public health challenge: past, present and future

Week 2

• Epidemiology of STIs
  • Interactions between HIV and STIs

Week 3

• Prevention of STIs
  • Vaccination
  • HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
  • Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP)
• Live webinar: Syphilis prevention and care

Week 4

• STI screening and diagnosis
  • STI screening
  • Laboratory diagnosis
  • Point-of-care testing

Week 5

• STI treatment
  • Clinical management of STIs
  • Syndromic management
  • Etiological diagnosis and treatment
  • STI management during pregnancy

Week 6

• STI programmes and service delivery
  • Monitoring and evaluation
  • Surveillance
  • Programme design and implementation
• Sexual health, human rights and STIs
• Live webinar: Antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhoea

Course audience

Health professionals, paramedical staff, project planners and managers in health-related areas, advocates, government officials and social scientists.

Teaching-learning methods to be used in course

For each module participants will have access to:

• Recorded lectures with downloadable slides
• Reading materials and WHO guidance documents
• Additional multimedia resources
• Multiple-choice questions
• Written assignments
• Live webinars (selected modules)

Teaching language

The teaching language of the course is English.

Requirements

Complete the multiple-choice assessment and written assignment for each module.

Personal coach

Each participant will be assigned a coach who will provide academic support, facilitate learning, answer questions and provide feedback throughout the course.

Certificate

Participants who successfully complete all required assessments will receive a certificate jointly issued by the organizing partners.

Course duration: 6 weeks

Course fee: USD 250

Important dates

Start date: 21 October 2026

End date: 01 December 2026

Application deadline: 04 October 2026

Payment deadline: 11 October 2026

Application

Applicants should complete the online application form and submit all required supporting documents by email to sti@gfmer.org.

Click to access the Application form

Enclosures

• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of motivation (maximum one page or 500 words), outlining the applicant’s interest in the course and expected benefits.

Course email: sti@gfmer.org

Contact

Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Chemin de Beau-Soleil 12
1206 Geneva - Switzerland
Email: info@gfmer.org
Website: https://www.gfmer.ch/