{"id":55111,"date":"2025-08-04T11:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwanda-to-introduce-rapid-testing-to-combat-congenital-syphilis\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T11:27:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:27:37","slug":"rwanda-to-introduce-rapid-testing-to-combat-congenital-syphilis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwanda-to-introduce-rapid-testing-to-combat-congenital-syphilis\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda to introduce rapid testing to combat congenital syphilis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The initiative, led by the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), aims to address missed or delayed diagnoses of syphilis in pregnant women\u2014a key driver of congenital syphilis, which can cause stillbirths, low birth weight, neurological damage, or even neonatal death.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Charles Berabose, Director of Sexually Transmitted Infections at RBC, says the new test will deliver results within 30 minutes, allowing immediate treatment during routine antenatal visits. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe test can be done right in the antenatal room. That will help us catch infections earlier and start treatment right away. Rwanda has already trained lab technicians nationwide to carry out the RPR test and plans to train health workers on the new kits ahead of their launch,\u201d Dr Berabose told the New Times.<\/p>\n<p>The test is part of a &#8220;triple elimination&#8221; package that also screens for HIV and hepatitis B. Unlike the current lab-based RPR method, which takes hours and often delays treatment, the new approach will be conducted directly in antenatal rooms.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda\u2019s high antenatal care attendance, with 98% of pregnant women attending at least one visit, offers a strategic entry point for early screening and intervention. <\/p>\n<p>Health workers are being trained in preparation for the rollout, which is expected early next year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-91947 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/syphilis_test.png\" alt=\"Rwanda is preparing to roll out rapid diagnostic tests for syphilis in antenatal clinics nationwide as part of a broader strategy to eliminate congenital syphilis by 2030.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda is preparing to roll out rapid diagnostic tests for syphilis in antenatal clinics nationwide as part of a broader strategy to eliminate congenital syphilis by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000091948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000091948,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/syphilis_logo.png","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000091948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55111"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55111"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}