Category Archives: Testing
Effect of rapid HIV testing on HIV incidence and services in populations at high risk for HIV exposure: An equity-focused systematic review
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of rapid voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for HIV on HIV incidence and uptake of HIV/AIDS services in people at high risk for HIV exposure....
Delivery of HIV test results, post-test discussion and referral in health care settings: A review of guidance for European countries
OBJECTIVES: HIV testing and counselling (HTC) guidelines support and promote best practice among service providers. Few European countries have national HTC guidelines and most rely on guidance from regional and...
Expanding access to HIV viral load testing: A systematic review of RNA stability in EDTA tubes and PPT beyond current time and temperature thresholds
BACKGROUND: HIV viral load (VL) testing is the gold standard for antiretroviral treatment monitoring, but many barriers exist to VL testing in resource-limited settings, including storage and transport limitations for...
Cost-effectiveness of antenatal HIV-testing: Reviewing its pharmaceutical and methodological aspects
This paper reviews the pharmacoeconomic aspects of antenatal testing for HIV. HIV is a retrovirus which is transmitted among humans through sexual contact, infected blood or blood products (needle sharing...
Retention in HIV care between testing and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Improving the outcomes of HIV/AIDS treatment programs in resource-limited settings requires successful linkage of patients testing positive for HIV to pre-antiretroviral therapy (ART) care and retention in pre-ART care...
Risk of window period hepatitis-C infection in high infectious risk donors: Systematic review and meta-analysis
The OPTN classifies high infectious risk donors (HRDs) based on criteria originally intended to identify people at risk for HIV infection. These donors are sometimes referred to as ‘CDC high...
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...
Determinants of male involvement in maternal and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: A review
INTRODUCTION: Male participation is a crucial component in the optimization of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services. This is especially so where prevention strategies to decrease Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) of...
The utility of voluntary counselling and testing data as a source of information on HIV prevalence: A systematic review
We explored the utility of routine HIV testing data from clinical services for estimating HIV prevalence. A systematic review identified 28 eligible publications, covering concentrated epidemics (16 of 28) and...
Screening for HIV: Systematic review to update the 2005 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation
BACKGROUND: A 2005 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) review found good evidence that HIV screening is accurate and that antiretroviral therapy (ART) for immunologically advanced disease is associated with...
