In brief
On 7 November 2026, WHO inaugurated the Collaborating Center for Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Innovations in Guangzhou, China, in partnership with Southern Medical University. The center will lead training, testing innovation, and surveillance efforts targeting Africa and Southeast Asia. China highlighted its broader multilateral medical cooperation, citing medical staff deployments and malaria control aid.
The World Health Organization commenced operations of its new Collaborating Center for Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Innovations in Guangzhou, China, on Saturday, 7 November 2026, alongside Southern Medical University’s Dermatology Hospital and Institute for Global Health.
Under the center’s mandate, WHO will focus on capacity building for venereal disease prevention and control in low‑ and middle‑income countries, with a target of training 100 senior professionals by 2030 across 15 countries, prioritising Africa and Southeast Asia.
Yang Bin, the center’s director, said the facility will conduct systematic, forward‑looking international cooperative research focused on capacity building, testing innovation and application, and surveillance system development.
Yang Bin: “We will develop a standardized training series and design point‑of‑care testing strategies that are simple, scalable and affordable for countries with limited resources.”
WHO’s Hannah Monica Dias added that the center will deepen engagement in developing international guidelines, contribute research evidence, and support STI surveillance and capacity building worldwide.
Hannah Monica Dias: “This center will provide expert advice to support global public health governance and align with existing international systems.”
China’s approach to multilateral health cooperation is highlighted by the country’s 2025 deployment of 1,061 medical personnel to 57 countries, delivering services to over 2 million patients, and its support of malaria control and schistosomiasis elimination programs in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The partnership with Southern Medical University will also emphasize the creation of an operational data integration and sharing platform, ensuring tools are user‑friendly and adaptable to national surveillance systems, especially in priority African nations.
Beyond training and data, the center will pilot verification of its surveillance tools and scale strategies that optimally integrate point‑of‑care testing into existing health services to meet WHO’s global STI control goals.
Future activities will see the center collaborating closely with national ministries of health, continually updating guidelines, and scaling up interventions to reduce the global burden of sexually transmitted infections in the coming decade.
