Category Archives: Women
Contraceptive methods and risk of HIV acquisition or female-to-male transmission
Effective family planning with modern contraception is an important intervention to prevent unintended pregnancies which also provides personal, familial, and societal benefits. Contraception is also the most cost-effective strategy to...
Vaginal practices as women’s agency in Sub-Saharan Africa: A synthesis of meaning and motivation through meta-ethnography
This paper reports on a systematic review of qualitative research about vaginal practices in Sub-Saharan Africa, which used meta-ethnographic methods to understand their origins, their meanings for the women who...
Efficacy and safety of cesarean delivery for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1
BACKGROUND: Cesarean section before labor and before ruptured membranes (“elective cesarean section”, or ECS) has been introduced as an intervention for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-1. The...
Are females who inject drugs at higher risk for HIV infection than males who inject drugs: An international systematic review of high seroprevalence areas
Objective: There are multiple reasons why females who inject drugs may be more likely to become infected with HIV than males who inject drugs. Where this is the case, special...
Integrating prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programs to improve uptake: A systematic review
Background: We performed a systematic review to assess the effect of integrated perinatal prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV interventions compared to non- or partially integrated services on the uptake...
Cost-effectiveness of counseling and testing to prevent sexual transmission of HIV in the United States
In this paper we review the cost-effectiveness of HIV counseling and testing in various settings and populations in preventing the sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, and we discuss how...
Mental health of HIV-seropositive women during pregnancy and postpartum period: A comprehensive literature review
With growing numbers of HIV-seropositive (HIV+) women of child-bearing age and increased access to effective clinical protocols for preventing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, mental health-related factors have become increasingly...
Hormonal contraception decreases bacterial vaginosis but oral contraception may increase candidiasis: Implications for HIV transmission
OBJECTIVE: A 2012 WHO consultation concluded that combined oral contraception (COC) does not increase HIV acquisition in women, but the evidence for depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) is conflicting. We evaluated...
The uptake of integrated perinatal prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programs in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: The objective of this review was to assess the uptake of WHO recommended integrated perinatal prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV interventions in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS...
Integrating prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programmes with other health services for preventing HIV infection and improving HIV outcomes in developing countries
BACKGROUND: Every year nearly 400,000 children are infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), which is responsible for more than 90% of HIV infections in children. In high-income countries, the...
Rethinking the heterosexual infectivity of HIV-1: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Studies of cumulative HIV incidence suggest that cofactors such as genital ulcer disease, HIV disease stage, and male circumcision influence HIV transmission; however, the heterosexual infectivity of HIV-1 is commonly...
