Category Archives: Health Systems
Integration of family planning services into HIV care and treatment services: A systematic review
Evidence on the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of integrating family planning (FP) and HIV services has grown significantly since the 2004 Glion Call to Action. This systematic review adds to...
Reliability of HIV rapid diagnostic tests for self-testing compared with testing by health-care workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: The ability of individuals to use HIV self-tests correctly is debated. To inform the 2016 WHO recommendation on HIV self-testing, we assessed the reliability and performance of HIV rapid...
A comparison of accuracy and computational feasibility of two record linkage algorithms in retrieving vital status information from HIV/AIDS patients registered in Brazilian public databases
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: While cross-referencing information from people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to the official mortality database is a critical step in monitoring the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Brazil, the accuracy...
How should HIV resources be allocated? Lessons learnt from applying Optima HIV in 23 countries
INTRODUCTION: With limited funds available, meeting global health targets requires countries to both mobilize and prioritize their health spending. Within this context, countries have recognized the importance of allocating funds...
Linking private, for-profit providers to public sector services for HIV and tuberculosis co-infected patients: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of infectious disease deaths worldwide and is the leading cause of death among people with HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called...
Physiotherapy for people with mental health problems in Sub-Saharan African countries: A systematic review
Background: There is a need for psychosocial interventions to address the escalating mental health burden in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Physiotherapists could have a central role in reducing the burden and...
Doing patient-centredness versus achieving public health targets: A critical review of interactional dilemmas in ART adherence support
Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) transformed HIV into a chronic disease but its individual and public health benefits depend on high levels of adherence. The large and rising number of people on...
Participants’ accrual and delivery of HIV prevention interventions among men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), HIV disproportionately affects men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) compared with other men of the same age group in the general population. Access to HIV services remains low among...
Review of differentiated approaches to antiretroviral therapy distribution
In response to global trends of maximizing the number of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), this review summarizes literature describing differentiated models of ART distribution at facility and community levels...