View from the WHO Task force for the urgent response to the epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases in eastern Europe and central Asia

The World Health Organisation (WHO) (Europe) has asked that International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) publicises the urgent work of the task force. The first meeting was held in Copenhagen on 23–24 February 1998, the second meeting was held in Vilnius on 22–23 September 1998. The unprecedented rise in syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in large parts of eastern Europe and central Asia poses a significant threat of an immediate HIV epidemic in the region. International agencies and the most aVected countries have joined forces to take action to curb the rapidly evolving STD epidemics. On the initiative of the WHO Regional OYce for Europe and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS), an international task force was created to mobilise an urgent and well coordinated multiagency response to the crisis. At the first meeting of the task force, the participants discussed the challenges facing STD control in the region and agreed on a strategic framework for a harmonised response. The response will address STD care and prevention, and will cover the newly independent states and the most vulnerable countries in central Europe. The participants agreed on the terms of reference for the task force and its secretariat, which will be located at the WHO Regional OYce for Europe. The mission of the task force was defined as ensuring that: + external support to the region is both timely and well coordinated + international and national resources are mobilised, and + the local capacity to respond to the STD epidemics enhanced.