Syphilis Treatment of Partners Trial

2.1 Primary Study Hypothesis In sub-Saharan Africa, between 2.5-17% of pregnant women are infected with syphilis \[1\]. It is estimated that 53-82% of women with untreated syphilis had adverse outcomes compared to only 10-21% of uninfected women\[2\]. The investigators and others have shown that syphilis screening integrated into an HIV antenatal clinic with prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) is highly accepted with excellent uptake. Unfortunately, the minority of male partners come in for testing and treatment (1%-27%) which has important implications for the roll-out of rapid syphilis testing and the inability to detect reinfection with treponemal antibody test as the test will remain positive despite treatment. The investigators hypothesize that sending an SMS reminder or a telephone call reminder by a health care worker will be more effective than a standard notification slip given to women to bring male partners to antennal clinic for testing and treatment.