To determine the current practices of private practitioners for the management of STIs in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, evaluation of pharmacotherapy for STIs in private clinics and to ascertain the management of STIs compared to standard guidelines. Methods: Data was collected by self-administered questionnaire for private practitioners, which gathered information on their socio-demographic as well as practice characteristics. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS for Windows version 13.0. Results: Data was collected from 78 practitioners. Most of the treatment choices mentioned for the treatment of gonorrhea were inconsistent with the guidelines. About 51.2% of practitioners did not screen their patients for HIV/AIDS. Majority of private practitioners counseled their patients about HIV/AIDS on an irregular basis. A high percentage of 59% did not inform health authorities about STI cases and 32.1% mentioned that they did not use any guidelines. Conclusions: Management of STIs by private practitioners with respect to selection of antibiotics, patient counseling and case notification leaves a lot to be desired. Current management practices can adversely impact on HIV/AIDS transmission in the country. Interventions are needed to improve the management practices of private practitioners.

Haemodialysis is a continuous treatment provided to patients with chronic kidney disease as a replacement for renal function. It is important to assess the quality of life among these patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life among patients on haemodialysis using an Indonesian version of the KDQoL-SF24 questionnaire. This is a cohort observational study that included 145 haemodialysis patients in a haemodialysis centre in Jakarta, Indonesia. A translated and validated version of the KDQoL-SF24 was used in this survey. The participants in this study had lower mean scores than the standard form in the following 6 components: burden of kidney disease (44.22±33.23), cognitive function (74.94±20.32), sleep (57.07±24.15), patient satisfaction (60.11±18.56), role-physical (26.21±44.01), emotional well-being (69.19±24.25) and role-emotional (40.69±49.18). A significant relationship was found between sexual function, physical functioning, role emotional and age among haemodialysis patients (P <0.05). Based on the overall health rating from the KDQoL-SF24, the mean and standard deviation for the 21- to 30-year-old age group was lower than the standard form. The burden of kidney disease, cognitive function, sleep, patient satisfaction, role-physical, emotional well-being and role-emotional component scores were low for haemodialysis patients in Indonesia compared to the standard form. Additionally, age significantly affected sexual function, physical functioning and role-emotional.