Category Archives: Biomedical interventions
Vitamin supplementation for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and pre-term delivery: A systematic review of randomized trial including more than 2800 women
Background: Observational studies have suggested that low serum vitamin levels are associated with increased mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and increased preterm delivery. We aimed to determine the efficacy of...
Children who acquire HIV infection perinatally are at higher risk of early death than those acquiring infection through breastmilk: A meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Assumptions about survival of HIV-infected children in Africa without antiretroviral therapy need to be updated to inform ongoing UNAIDS modelling of paediatric HIV epidemics among children. Improved estimates of...
Weighing the gold in the gold standard: Challenges in HIV prevention research
OBJECTIVE(S): Few HIV prevention interventions have been evaluated in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We examined design, implementation, and contextual considerations that may limit detection of a positive or adverse effect...
Priority interventions to reduce HIV transmission in sex work settings in sub-Saharan Africa and delivery of these services
INTRODUCTION: Virtually no African country provides HIV prevention services in sex work settings with an adequate scale and intensity. Uncertainty remains about the optimal set of interventions and mode of...
Adherence to post-exposure prophylaxis for non-forcible sexual exposure to HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis
To characterize adherence to post-exposure prophylaxis after non-forcible sexual exposure to HIV, we conducted a review of the literature and meta-analysis. Articles were considered if they contained primary adherence data...
Effectiveness of interventions for the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in female sex workers in resource poor setting: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Long-term retention of patients in Africa’s rapidly expanding antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs for HIV/AIDS is essential for these programs’ success but has received relatively little attention. In this paper...
Effect of CCR5-delta32 heterozygosity on the risk of perinatal HIV-1 infection: A meta-analysis
Several studies have investigated whether heterozygosity for a 32-basepair deletion in the CC chemokine receptor 5 gene (CCR5-Delta32 ) affects susceptibility to perinatal HIV-1 infection, but results have been inconclusive....
Is there a role for primary care clinicians in providing shared care in HIV treatment? A systematic literature review
BACKGROUND: Despite HIV being increasingly considered as a chronic illness, there is as yet no consensus about how primary care should be integrated with specialty care to provide optimal clinical...
Incident HIV during pregnancy and postpartum and risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Women may have persistent risk of HIV acquisition during pregnancy and postpartum. Estimating risk of HIV during these periods is important to inform optimal prevention approaches. We performed a...