Category Archives: Epidemiology and Determinants of Health
The impact of HIV-related stigma on the lives of HIV-positive women: An integrated literature review
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To critically explore how Human Immunodeficiency Virus-related stigma impacts on the lives of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-positive women through an integrative review of the literature. BACKGROUND: Throughout history...
Housing status, medical care, and health outcomes among people living With HIV/AIDS: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence suggests responses to HIV that combine individual-level interventions with those that address structural or contextual factors that influence risks and health outcomes of infection. Housing is such...
Interventions to improve or facilitate linkage to or retention in pre-ART (HIV) care and initiation of ART in low- and middle-income settings – A systematic review
INTRODUCTION: Several approaches have been taken to reduce pre-antiretroviral therapy (ART) losses between HIV testing and ART initiation in low- and middle-income countries, but a systematic assessment of the evidence...
State of the evidence: Intimate partner violence and HIV/STI risk among adolescents
This paper provides a critical narrative review of the scientific literature on intimate partner violence (IPV) and risky sexual behavior as well as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents, aged...
Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis B virus co-infection in sub-Saharan Africa and the potential impact and program feasibility of hepatitis B surface antigen screening in resource-limited settings
BACKGROUND: Screening people living with HIV for hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection is recommended in resource-rich settings to optimize HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) and mitigate HBV-related liver disease. This review...
Syndemics of psychosocial problems and HIV risk: A systematic review of empirical tests of the disease interaction concept
In the theory of syndemics, diseases co-occur in particular temporal or geographical contexts due to harmful social conditions (disease concentration) and interact at the level of populations and individuals, with...
Association between maternal HIV infection and low birth weight and prematurity: A meta-analysis of cohort studies
BACKGROUND: To assess the association between maternal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and low birth weight (LBW)/prematurity (PTD), we conducted a meta-analysis of cohort studies of HIV infected and uninfected...
Performance of commercial herpes simplex virus type-2 antibody tests using serum samples from Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Several commercial type-specific serologic tests are available for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Poor specificity of some tests has been reported on samples from sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: To...
The association between lymphogranuloma venereum and HIV among men who have sex with men: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is an important re-emerging sexually transmitted infection which is reported to affect particularly HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM). The aim of this study is...
Estimating HIV prevalence and risk behaviors of transgender persons in the United States: A systematic review
Transgender populations in the United States have been impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This systematic review estimates the prevalence of HIV infection and risk behaviors of transgender persons. Comprehensive searches...
Supervised and unsupervised self-testing for HIV in high- and low-risk populations: A systematic review.
BACKGROUND: Stigma, discrimination, lack of privacy, and long waiting times partly explain why six out of ten individuals living with HIV do not access facility-based testing. By circumventing these barriers,...
