External quality assessment to support the WHO ProSPeRo study for the evaluation of two dual HIV/syphilis point-of-care tests in seven countries.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateThis study was independently peer reviewed and approved by the Research Project Review Panel (RP2) of the WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research and by the WHO Ethics Review Committee (ERC). The protocol has been adapted to individual countries and approved by RP2, ERC and institutional review boards at each site. The informed consent of each participant was obtained before the study started. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests in this section. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this section."

"Funding The study was funded by the CDC (Atlanta, Georgia, USA). This work also received funding from the UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Program of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), a cosponsored program executed by WHO and Government of Canada. The funding bodies did not have a role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."