Category Archives: Epidemiology and Determinants of Health

The purpose of this meta-analytic study is to summarize the current science concerning the (a) prevalence of alcohol use, (b) prevalence of sexual risk behaviors, and (c) association between alcohol...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the evidence for the existence of gender bias (defined as care provided independently of clinical need) in the use of specialist services by critically appraising the literature....

BACKGROUND: The need for palliative care in HIV management is underlined by the high prevalence of pain and symptoms, the toxicity, side effects, and virological failure associated with antiretroviral therapy,...

INTRODUCTION: Human resource shortages are a challenge to the rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-infected patients, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Task-shifting has been recommended as an approach to reduce...

Objective To assess the contribution of provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC) to achieving universal testing of pregnant women and, from available data on components of PITC, assess whether PITC adoption...

To fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic, HIV-seropositive individuals must interact unsafely with HIV-seronegative individuals. Research indicates that up to one third of individuals diagnosed with HIV continue to have unprotected sex,...

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the percentage of adherence to highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Spanish observational studies and to identify the variables associated with adherence. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were used...

BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis and immediate initiation of treatment are essential for an effective tuberculosis (TB) control program. Delay in diagnosis is significant to both disease prognosis at the individual level...

Sex work remains an important contributor to HIV transmission within early, advanced and regressing epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa, but its social and behavioral underpinnings remain poorly understood, limiting the impact...

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is thought to be involved in the pathogenic and metabolic events associated with HIV-1 infection. We assessed whether carriage of the TNF-alpha gene promoter single...

OBJECTIVES: To assess and summarize the published literature on the extent to which bacterial vaginosis may increase the risk of HIV acquisition. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of published studies. METHODS: Medline and...

Background: The integration of HIV/AIDS and maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition services (MNCHN), including family planning (FP) is recognized as a key strategy to reduce maternal and child mortality...