Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major public health concern worldwide. Aim: This study aimed to determine the epidemiological patterns of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) reported in Mongolia. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional design was employed, utilizing surveillance data on STIs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing results from a total of 72 health facilities. Results: The findings indicate that the overall prevalence of STIs in the general population has not declined and remains consistently high. The most commonly reported infections-syphilis (10.8–15.0), gonorrhea (9.1–11.4), trichomoniasis (7.0–8.2), and chlamydial infection (0.1–0.8)-have shown persistently elevated rates over the study period. Furthermore, STI morbidity was significantly higher among individuals aged 20–39 years, representing the sexually active population, as well as among those with complete secondary education, those who were married, and those who were employed (p<0.001). Conclusion An important finding of this study is that although the number of real-time PCR tests conducted for STI detection and the corresponding positivity rate increased from 0.9% to 9.5%, the proportion of reported cases remains relatively low. This suggests limited accessibility to PCR diagnostics and insufficient reporting and surveillance of STIs. These findings highlight the need to strengthen laboratory diagnostic capacity, as well as to improve integrated surveillance and reporting systems, in order to effectively reduce the burden of STIs at the national level.

Background: Congenital syphilis is a serious infection transmitted from an infected mother to the fetus during pregnancy, potentially leading to adverse outcomes such as miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, or neonatal death. The global COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures have posed significant challenges not only to individuals but also to national socio-economic systems, adversely affecting the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. Aim: This study aimed to compare the incidence of congenital syphilis in Mongolia during the pre-COVID-19 period (2016–2020) and the post-COVID-19 period (2021–2025). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Data from all 361 registered cases of congenital syphilis between 2016 and 2025 were included in the analysis. Results: The incidence of congenital syphilis per 100,000 live births decreased from 65.8 in 2016–2020 to 34.5 in 2021–2025, representing a 47.6% reduction (RR=0.52, 95% CI: 0.42–0.66, p<0.001). Overall, 67% of cases were concentrated in Ulaanbaatar. The proportion of cases among mothers aged 15–19 years increased from 11.5% to 21.3%, and the majority of mothers had completed secondary education. Conclusion Although the incidence of congenital syphilis declined significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic, 13.0% of pregnant women receiving antenatal care did not undergo serological testing. This underscores the need to strengthen surveillance and reporting systems and to implement continuous education and awareness programs, particularly targeting young women and mothers.

BACKGROUND. Uterine cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. In our country, cervical cancer is second most common cancer in women. Uterine cervical smear (Papanicolaou test) remains an effective and widely used method for early detection of precancerous and cancerous lesions. Since 2002, the cervical smear was introduced to the clinical practice of our country. However, there is no study to performed external quality assurance of cervical smear until now. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We selected 20 glass slides of uterine cervical smear, the diagnosis was approved by histopathology. Each chosen slides were evaluated by four cytologists of A, B, C, D hospitals with hidden clinical information, independently. RESULTS. The sensitivity of A, B, C and D hospitals were 87.5%, 93.3%, 93.3%, and 93.3%, respectively. The specificity of A, B, C and D hospitals was 85.7%, 85.7%, 75%, and 66.6%, respectively. The diagnostic concordance of A, B, C and D was 70%, 75%, 50%, and 55%, respectively. The agreement of cytological diagnosis was moderate (kappa = 0.55), moderate (kappa = 0.43), fair (kappa = 0.37), and fair (kappa = 0.33) in A, B, C, and D hospitals, respectively. CONCLUSION: The external quality assurance in cytopathology is needed in Mongolia. The diagnostic concordance method would be applicable in our country to improve diagnostic agreement.