"HIV AND pregnancy"

We conducted a secondary analysis of discrete choice experiment (DCE) data from 395 couples enrolled in the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN)-045/CUPID study in Uganda and Zimbabwe to understand couple decision making around choice of multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) to prevent both HIV and pregnancy. Members of couples completed the same DCE, first separately then jointly, choosing between two hypothetical MPTs in a series of nine questions. Most couples either had similar preferences at the outset or had equal decision-making around MPTs (62%)...

End-user input early in biomedical product development may optimize design to support high uptake and adherence. We interviewed 400 couples (800 total participants) in Uganda and Zimbabwe to assess their preferences for multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) for HIV and pregnancy prevention. Using a discrete choice experiment, couples made a series of choices between hypothetical MPTs, including oral tablets and vaginal rings, inserts, and films and completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire assessing sociodemographic and behavioral measures...

One of the policy goals of the South African Department of Basic Education's National Policy on HIV, STIs and TB of 2017 is to reduce the incidence of HIV and pregnancy among learners. This is expected to be achieved by improving access to prevention services, including the provision of condoms in schools. This study uses street- level bureaucracy theory to explain how educators can play a more productive role in ensuring that policy goals are achieved. Educators provide their views on their role as condom promotion agents, their perception of demand and utilisation among learners, as well as their insights on suitable distribution mechanisms in the school setting...

BACKGROUND: School health education, including sexual health education, plays a crucial role in shaping adolescents' protective health behaviors, experiences, and outcomes. Adolescents need functional knowledge and skills to practice, adopt, and maintain healthy behaviors for preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and unintended pregnancy. METHODS: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC/DASH) has advanced school-based approaches to STI/HIV and pregnancy prevention through surveillance, research and evaluation, and program partnership and collaboration for over 3 decades...

BACKGROUND: Nearly a quarter of the 1.1 million individuals with HIV in the United States are women. Racial and ethnic minority women in the Southern United States are disproportionately impacted. Reproductive-age women with HIV are prone to poor HIV outcomes but remain underrepresented in HIV research. We will answer contemporary questions related to the health outcomes in this population by enrolling a prospective cohort of reproductive-age women with and without HIV in the Southern United States...

Objectives: We sought to investigate the prevalence of HIV in pregnant women and the maternal, obstetrical, and neonatal outcomes over 13 years (2005-2017) at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Muscat, Oman. Methods: Our study design was a retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study of HIV-positive women in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. We had an unlimited sample size due to the rarity of the disease. We aimed to include all pregnant Omani women who tested positive for HIV in their antenatal screening from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2017...

BACKGROUND: HIV and pregnancy may affect latent TB infection (LTBI) diagnostics. Tuberculin skin test (TST) and newer generation QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) evaluations in pregnant women living with HIV (WLHIV) and without HIV are lacking. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, pregnant women underwent TST and QFT-Plus testing during antenatal care in Kenya. We estimated LTBI prevalence and TST and QFT-Plus performances. Diagnostic agreement was assessed with kappa statistic, participant characteristics associated with LTBI and HIV were assessed with generalized linear models, and QFT-Plus quantitative responses were assessed with Mann-Whitney U test...

The mental health of adolescents (10-19 years) remains an overlooked global health issue, particularly within the context of syndemic conditions such as HIV and pregnancy. Rates of pregnancy and HIV among adolescents within South Africa are some of the highest in the world. Experiencing pregnancy and living with HIV during adolescence have both been found to be associated with poor mental health within separate explorations. Yet, examinations of mental health among adolescents living with HIV who have experienced pregnancy/parenthood remain absent from the literature...

AIM: To examine adolescent contraceptive literacy and condom knowledge in Botswana. BACKGROUND: In Botswana, adolescent HIV infection rates remain high and unintended pregnancies are the predominant reason girls drop out of school. Despite a national mandate for comprehensive sexuality education and youth-friendly health services, access to accurate sexual and reproductive health information for adolescents remains limited. METHODS: Two hundred forty adolescents attending secondary schools in Maun, Botswana, completed cross-sectional surveys in 2020...

This study sought to explore and contextualise the man's role in antenatal services, and the barriers and strategies for engaging men in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT). We conducted 143 interviews with pregnant and breastfeeding women, male partners, health workers and policy makers in Malawi and Zambia. We employed thematic and critical discourse analysis using the hegemonic masculinity perspective. We found that men's roles in PMTCT reflected hegemonic masculinities. As breadwinners, men supported their partners with material and financial resources...

Women of reproductive age need multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) products to address two overlapping health risks: unintended pregnancy and HIV. Currently, condoms are the only available MPT, however male condoms are not within the control of a woman, and the use of female condoms has been limited by low acceptability and cost. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective for HIV prevention, yet uptake and adherence among women have been low to date. Women globally need more options for HIV and pregnancy prevention...

ABSTRACT Unintended pregnancy and unmet need for modern contraception contribute substantially to reproductive health disparities globally. In sub-Saharan Africa they occur in contexts of disproportionately high rates of HIV infection. Multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) can address HIV and pregnancy prevention needs in a single "2-in-1" product; however, few studies have solicited end-user views to inform design of new MPTs. We conducted the Tablets, Ring, Injections as Options (TRIO) study with young women aged 18-30 in Kenya and South Africa ( N  = 277) to examine preferences and acceptability of future MPTs...

BACKGROUND: Adolescent HIV and pregnancy rates in Southern Africa are amongst the highest in the world. Despite decades of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programming targeting adolescents, recent trends suggest there is a continued need for interventions targeting condom use for this age group. METHODS: This review synthesises evidence from qualitative studies that describe the determinants of condom use among adolescents in Southern Africa. We conducted systematic searches in four databases...

Redox imbalance may compromise the homeostasis of physiological processes indispensable to gestational development in HIV-infected women. The present study aims to evaluate markers of the redox system in the development of pregnancy of these women. HIV-positive pregnant women, HIV-negative pregnant women and non-pregnant were studied. Redox markers superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), protein carbonylation and malondialdehyde (MDA) were assessed at first or second trimester, third trimester and postpartum from pregnant and from non-pregnant women...

OBJECTIVE: There have been significant successes in the fight against HIV/AIDS due to the access to rapid HIV testing, interventions to reduce the mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) risk, potent and effective antiviral medications, and other biomedical prevention strategies. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate that Puerto Rico eliminated Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (MTCT) following the 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for validating the elimination of MTCT and Syphilis...

BACKGROUND: Although many countries have been promoting hormonal contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancy and condom use to prevent HIV transmission, little is known about how women targeted by these messages have interpreted and internalized them. We describe HIV-positive and negative women's understanding of the benefits of contraception and condoms and their motivations to use them. METHODS: This is a qualitative sub-study from a clinical trial evaluating the effects of progestin contraception on HIV-positive and negative women aged 18-45 years randomly assigned to depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injection or levonorgestrel (LNG) implant...

BACKGROUND: We determined the availability and pricing of laboratory testing in the Northern Region of Ghana to identify current gaps with respect to the WHO's Essential Diagnostics List (EDL). METHODS: A representative sample of facilities offering diagnostic testing within the Northern Region was geographically mapped and evaluated, with random sampling stratified by population density. Data were collected on testing menus, volumes, turn-around times, and out-of-pocket test prices...

This study, a secondary analysis of the HPTN 068 randomized control trial, aimed to quantify the association of father and male presence with HIV incidence and first pregnancy among 2533 school-going adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in rural South Africa participating in the trial between March 2011 and April 2017. Participants' ages ranged from 13-20 years at study enrollment and 17-25 at the post-intervention visit. HIV and pregnancy incidence rates were calculated for each level of the exposure variables using Poisson regression, adjusted for age using restricted quadratic spline variables, and, in the case of pregnancy, also adjusted for whether the household received a social grant...

OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in maternal viral control over time in South African women living with HIV (WLHIV) using surveillance data from the National Health Laboratory Service's Corporate Data Warehouse (NHLS CDW). DESIGN: A retrospective cohort analysis of maternal viral load during pregnancy and up to 15 months postpartum was performed amongst WLHIV (15-49 years) within the public-health sector between 2016 and 2017. METHODS: HIV and pregnancy-related test data were used to create a synthetic cohort of pregnant WLHIV from the NHLS CDW...

BACKGROUND: Little is known about actions taken by female sex workers (FSWs) after male condom failure during male-female sexual intercourse. The objective of this study was to investigate the actions taken by FSWs after condom failure among FSWs in semi-urban, Blantyre in Malawi. METHODS: A cross sectional, qualitative study was conducted among FSWs in Blantyre, Malawi between May and July 2019. Snowballing technique was used to recruit study participants in four purposively selected study sites...