Category Archives: Testing
Family planning counseling for women living with HIV: A systematic review of the evidence of effectiveness on contraceptive uptake and pregnancy incidence, 1990 to 2011
BACKGROUND: Family planning is an important public health intervention with numerous potential health benefits for all women. One of those key benefits is the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV,...
Retention in care of HIV-infected children from HIV test to start of antiretroviral therapy: Systematic review
BACKGROUND: In adults it is well documented that there are substantial losses to the programme between HIV testing and start of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The magnitude and reasons for loss...
HIV voluntary counseling and testing and behavioral risk reduction in developing countries: A meta-analysis, 1990-2005.
The effectiveness of HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) in reducing HIV risk behaviors in developing countries was assessed using meta-analytic methods. A standardized protocol was used for searching, acquiring,...
HIV prevention, treatment, and care services for people who inject drugs: A systematic review of global, regional, and national coverage
Background: Previous reviews have examined the existence of HIV prevention, treatment, and care services for injecting drug users (IDUs) worldwide, but they did not quantify the scale of coverage. We...
Polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of HIV infection in adults: A meta-analysis with recommendations for clinical practice and study design
PURPOSE: To do a meta-analysis of studies that have evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in...
Stigma in the HIV/AIDS epidemic: A review of the literature and recommendations for the way forward
Although stigma is considered a major barrier to effective responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, stigma reduction efforts are relegated to the bottom of AIDS programme priorities. The complexity of HIV/AIDS-related...
Rapid point-of-care HIV testing in youth: A systematic review
PURPOSE: This review examines the literature surrounding acceptability of, and preference for, rapid point-of-care (POC) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in youth, documents notification rates when youth were offered rapid...
A systematic review of interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination from 2002 to 2013: How far have we come?
Introduction: HIV-related stigma and discrimination continue to hamper efforts to prevent new infections and engage people in HIV treatment, care and support programmes. The identification of effective interventions to reduce...
Definition of a core set of quality indicators for the assessment of HIV/AIDS clinical care: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Several organizations and individual authors have been proposing quality indicators for the assessment of clinical care in HIV/AIDS patients. Nevertheless, the definition of a consensual core set of indicators...
Provider-initiated testing and counselling programmes in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of their operational implementation
OBJECTIVE: The routine offer of an HIV test during patient-provider encounters is gaining momentum within HIV treatment and prevention programmes. This review examined the operational implementation of provider-initiated testing and...
