Category Archives: Epidemiology and Determinants of Health
Does palliative care improve outcomes for patients with HIV/AIDS? A systematic review of the evidence
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,...
The effectiveness and cost implications of task-shifting in the delivery of antiretroviral therapy to HIV-infected patients: A systematic review
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...
Universal voluntary HIV testing in antenatal care settings: A review of the contribution of provider-initiated testing & counselling
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...
Secrets and safety in the age of AIDS: Does HIV disclosure lead to safer sex?
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,...
Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy in Spain: A meta-analysis
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...
Socio-demographic characteristics and behavioral risk factors of female sex workers in sub-saharan Africa: A systematic review
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...
No relationship between TNF-alpha genetic variants and combination antiretroviral therapy-related lipodystrophy syndrome in HIV type 1-infected patients: A case-control study and a meta-analysis
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...
Integration of HIV/AIDS services with maternal, neonatal and child health, nutrition, and family planning services
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...
Accuracy of serological assays for detection of recent infection with HIV and estimation of population incidence: A systematic review
We systematically reviewed the accuracy of serological tests for recent infections with HIV that have become widely used for measuring population patterns incidence of HIV. Across 13 different assays, sensitivity...
Global epidemiology of injecting drug use and HIV among people who inject drugs: A systematic review
Background: Injecting drug use is an increasingly important cause of HIV transmission in most countries worldwide. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of injecting drug use among individuals aged...
