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The dramatic increases in STIs led the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to develop a monitoring system to help EU/EEA countries respond to the outbreaks. The purpose of this report is to provide public health decision-makers at national and European level with an overview of the situation in the EU/EEA in terms of responses to STI epidemics to inform action and policies," the report states. Outdated national strategies The report found that while 18 of the 29 countries have a national strategy for STI prevention and control, only 10 have updated that strategy within the past five years, which could mean those strategies don't account for post-COVID pandemic behavior changes or the latest epidemiologic trends. "To effectively curb these epidemics, countries are encouraged to update their national strategies, remove barriers to testing, and strengthen surveillance data on STIs and data on coverage of interventions to better target and improve prevention efforts," the ECDC said in a news release."