World Sexual Health Day 2026
Sexual health is a fundamental part of overall health. Sexually transmitted infections affect hundreds of millions of people globally each year, and the burden falls disproportionately on those with the least access to care.
The scale of the problem
More than one million curable sexually transmitted infections are acquired every day worldwide. These infections directly affect sexual and reproductive health, and can cause stigma, infertility, cancers, and pregnancy complications.
The burden is not evenly distributed. Around 90 per cent of new curable STI infections occur in low- and middle-income countries, where access to affordable, quality diagnostics remains out of reach for many of the people who need them most.
Two infections, two treatments, similar presentation
Genital ulcer disease illustrates the challenge clearly. Two very different infections can present in a very similar way at the bedside.
Syphilis is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum and is treated with antibiotic therapy. Herpes simplex is caused by HSV-1 and HSV-2, is viral, and is treated with antiviral therapy. Despite requiring entirely different treatment, the two are clinically similar in presentation, and no point-of-care test currently distinguishes between them.
The associated burden is significant:
An estimated 846 million people worldwide between the ages of 15 and 49 (about one in eight) are living with genital herpes infections.
Roughly 8 million adults aged 15 to 49 contracted syphilis in 2022.
An estimated 1.1 million pregnant women had syphilis in 2022, leading to more than 390,000 adverse birth outcomes.
The diagnostic gap and its consequences
Genital ulcers and lesions have many possible causes. Without diagnostic confirmation, treatment can become guesswork, and the effects do not stop with one patient.
The chain typically unfolds in four stages:
No accessible test. Affordable, sensitive, and rapid diagnostics are unavailable at the point of care for the differentiation of genital ulcer disease.
Missed diagnoses or misdiagnosis. Patients present with symptoms, but without testing the cause may be assumed or misidentified.
Delayed or wrong treatment. A patient may be treated for HSV when the real cause is syphilis, leaving the true infection unaddressed.
Ongoing transmission. The chain continues, and the burden grows.
Where the result is received changes what happens next
The point at which a result is delivered has a direct effect on care.When testing relies on a centralised laboratory, the sample is collected in clinic and transported to the laboratory, the patient leaves untreated, and the result is returned later with the patient recalled. This introduces a real risk of loss to follow-up. With a point-of-care molecular test, the sample is collected in clinic and tested at the point of care, an accurate result is available while the patient waits, and treatment can begin the same visit. This reduces the risk of onward transmission.Treating in a single visit avoids loss to follow-up and supports immediate clinical decision-making.
Our work
We are developing a point-of-care molecular test for genital ulcer disease, designed to differentiate syphilis and herpes simplex virus at the bedside in one multiplexed assay, where no such test currently exists.
The test is being developed on our ZiP-P2 molecular diagnostics platform.
"For STIs, the opportunity for accurate and timely diagnosis is critical. A result that comes back days later, through a centralised lab, risks losing the patient to follow-up entirely. Point-of-care molecular testing changes that dynamic. It puts an accurate answer in the clinician's hands while the patient is still in the room, and that makes an enormous difference to treatment uptake and outcomes." - Dr Jack Richards, CEO and Founder, ZiP Diagnostics
