Search

The HIV/AIDS threat, as a development obstacle in the underdeveloped world, has persisted for years. Globally, 37.9 million people are HIV positive and the majority, or 70% of them, live in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with insufficient resources to fight the infection. HIV infection, if it progresses to AIDS, reduces labor force, decreases productivity, increases costs of health services and thus has a negative impact on a country's economic performance. The research presented in the paper analyzed HIV prevalence and GDP per capita of all Sub-Saharan countries, disproving the initial hypothesis that the highest HIV prevalence is found among the poorest counties. Paradoxically, HIV incidence is higher in countries with higher middle income like Botswana and the Republic of South Africa. Of the ten most affected countries, only four are ranked in the least developed category. Inverse dependency between the rate of Human Development Index and HIV prevalence, examined using the regression model in the gretl statistical software, was not confirmed and thus high HIV prevalence in population does not automatically lead to extreme poverty. HIV and AIDS form one of several factors affecting economic development of the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The main aim of the paper is to assess the influence of HIV/AIDS on the economic development of Sub-Saharan nations, using the OLS regression model in gretl, interdependency between the economic performance of a country (GDP per capita) and HIV prevalence in its active population (aged 15-45) to find out whether HIV is among the major factors negatively affecting development in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, 35 million people have died of AIDS. As a result, HIV/AIDS has brought about a significant reduction in human capital, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Several studies have examined the effects of HIV/AIDS on human capital, in particular educational attainment. These studies have examined different countries, datasets, and educational outcomes. This systematic literature review provides a comprehensive up‐to‐date overview of peer‐reviewed papers published in English by focusing on the main mechanisms that influence the effects of HIV/AIDS on educational outcomes. These are sickness of the child, orphanhood, and sickness of parents. The results show that educational outcomes of HIV‐infected children, AIDS orphans, and children with HIV‐infected parents are affected differently. HIV‐infected children mainly miss school days due to illness and medical appointments, and orphans mainly face financial problems and lack motivation in their education, while children with HIV‐infected parents may have to take care of their sick parents or face financial problems that affect their education. Distinguishing these groups of children could help to formulate policies that adequately improve schooling outcomes of these vulnerable children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits criticisms by historians and anthropologists of early AIDS research and interventions in Africa. These critiques identified persistent colonial era-tropes in the narratives about AIDS in Africa, the early foreclosure of certain avenues of inquiry, and the dominant influence of researchers and institutions from Europe and the United States. This paper reconsiders those critiques by introducing an important group of African AIDS researchers, whose contributions to the early research work have been largely overlooked in the historical literature. While these African researchers shared many of the views held by expatriate researchers, their accounts of the early AIDS investigations cast a new light on the choices made by AIDS research programs in the 1980s and early 1990s. These Ugandan physicians and scientists emphasized the coinciding political and epidemiological crises, which led them to take a highly pragmatic and results-oriented approach to AIDS research. While their agendas foreclosed some avenues of investigation, they also permitted researchers to allocate limited resources to a focused set of topics and interventions, generating powerful conclusions in relatively short periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the history of bareback sex (condomless sex between men), 'subjects' have been created, particularly through scientific literature, to characterise the men who engage in the sexual practice. For example, a gay man who does not use a condom may be framed as a pathologised subject. This paper first presents this history. Afterwards, by relying upon ethnographic data such as interviews collected from fieldwork research done in Toronto in 2014 with young gay men who have bareback sex, it shows exactly how these young gay men related themselves to those subjects. Then, it focuses on the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Truvada as a new HIV prevention technology. Although PrEP can allow condomless sex to occur while diminishing the risk of HIV transmission, at the time of the research, none of the young gay men were interested in using this tool despite being the subjects for whom the drug is tailored. This paper argues that PrEP and subjectivity are coproduced and can have conflicting meanings. This contradiction of meanings is a result of the various representations and symbols of bareback sex and the men who engage in the practice that have been produced throughout the history of bareback sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure in Canada as a public health legal response. The analysis begins outside the public health framework to relate the criminalization of HIV to broader shifts in the relationship between life and law in contemporary forms of governance. It does this by drawing on the concepts of biopower and biopolitics to explain how the intersection of medical and legal knowledge creates an accusatorial framework that has made HIV criminalization possible. This idea is explored by tracing the historical development of the legal principle out of which the phenomenon has emerged ("fraud capable of vitiating consent to sexual relations") and looking at how it has been applied in two contemporary HIV prosecution cases: R v. Aziga (2007) and R v. Ngeruka (2015). The second half of the paper examines the effectiveness of the criminal accusation of HIV non-disclosure as a public health legal response, focusing on its effect on advancing traditional public health goals. The discussion also points out how criminalization of HIV non-disclosure manifests broader tensions that have been recognized in public health legal responses to communicable disease, particularly the challenges of protecting the public while respecting individual rights. The paper concludes by arguing that control over blood blurs medical and legal forms of knowledge and power. This reflects a "seropolitical" landscape characterized by a criminal law accusatorial framework shaped by medical determinations of risk and harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study aimed to assess the current situation of Chinese dental bachelor interns on HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and their attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, paper-based survey involving 147 dental students from three Chinese dental schools was conducted. Students were recruited to complete the questionnaire regarding their knowledge, awareness and attitudes concerning HIV/AIDS anonymously and voluntarily.Results: A total of 144 students responded to the study, generating a response rate of 98.0%. Although 97.0% of the dental students believed dentists were at high risk of HIV infection, 97.2% of students expressed no prejudice towards HIV/AIDS patients and stated their willingness to provide oral healthcare service for such patients. No statistically significant differences in the responses on attitudes and some basic knowledge were found between students who had received the relevant education about infection control and the students who had not. However, regarding most questions about oral manifestations in adult and paediatric patients living with AIDS, the students who received relevant education showed more knowledge than the students who did not (p <0.05). The cognitive level about respecting HIV/AIDS patients' autonomy and privacy was generally low in all the students.Conclusions: Most of the dental students in this survey held positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients and good grasp of some basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the questionnaire results reflected gaps in education, such as respecting HIV/AIDS patients' privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Persons with disabilities (PWD) often experience risks associated with HIV/AIDS including unmet needs and overlooked stigmatization. This could be attributed to certain misconceptions such as PWDs are asexual, and cannot enjoy sexual pleasure, among others. Therefore, this paper sought to investigate the extent of disability inclusion in recent National Strategic Plans (NSPs) for HIV/AIDS in West African countries. Methods: This study was a policy review of NSPs in 13 African countries. Relevant indicators in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UNAIDS International Guidelines on HIV and Human Rights were used. Six indicators (identification of people living with disability (PLWD) as a key population, the inclusion of principles related to PWD within the NSPs on HIV/AIDS, protecting the rights of PWD, recognition of PWD as a vulnerable population at higher risk of HIV and in need of special protection, providing HIV-related support services for PWD and monitoring and evaluating the impact of HIV on PWD). Results: Findings from this study revealed that only 30% of West African countries recognized disability as an issue of concern. Also, 38.5% of these countries recognize the vulnerability of people with disabilities to HIV. However, only a few (7.6%) provided support in the context of special needs, monitoring, and surveillance specifically for persons with disabilities. Conclusion: Most of the West African NSPs are outdated and due for renewal. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the needs of persons with disabilities within the context of HIV/AIDS in the NSPs. More importantly, support and services should also be prioritized among the vulnerable groups to optimize inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community health workers (CHWs) are central to the global health response to crises like the AIDS epidemic. Yet community health work remains undervalued and undercompensated worldwide owing in large part to the gendered and racialized contexts of care work. This paper investigates the possibility of occupational security for CHWs by comparing two cases from South Africa's response to AIDS. The first draws on ethnographic research (2007–2009) in rural KwaZulu‐Natal province and documents the fraught formation of a union representing CHWs. The second examines legal action in the Free State province for a group of CHWs known as the Bophelo House 94, who were arrested and criminally charged in June 2014 after protesting their sudden dismissal by the government. This case comparison finds that collective action has thus far had limited effects on CHWs' position as a nascent occupation. The South African Ministry of Health has obstructed CHW professionalization, and non‐state actors' involvement has been a mixture of benefit and impediment: some social justice agencies have facilitated CHW advocacy, while many AIDS service organizations have cooperated with the state and exacerbated the precarity of CHWs' working conditions. However, the consolidation of CHW work roles—owing to advances in AIDS prevention and treatment—holds promise for future CHW collective organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis transformed the desirability of committed heterosexual relationships. This paper employs a difference‐in‐differences approach to investigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis on marriage rates. By using HIV/AIDS death rates as a proxy for HIV incidence, the study exploits county‐level variations in HIV/AIDS mortality and finds that counties with higher HIV/AIDS death rates experienced larger gains in marriage rates in the early years of the epidemic. Estimates suggest that the virus increased marriage rates by approximately 0.9% in the early years of the virus (1981–1988). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIDS is a chronic infectious disease that has been having a major impact on human health and social stability. In this paper, based on the deterministic SIATR model, a stochastic SIATR model is developed to account for the spread of AIDS by introducing the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. First, the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution of the model are investigated. Second, a threshold R0E is set: when R0E < 1, the disease will become extinct; when R0E > 1, the disease will persist. Then, it is shown that there exists a stationary distribution for the model when R0E > 1. On this basis, we derive the exact expression for the probability density function of the model in the neighborhood of the quasi-equilibrium state. Finally, the results of the previous proof are verified by several numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) accounts for half of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in people living with human immunodeficiency syndrome (PLWH). The interplay of viremia, immune dysregulation and co-infection with oncogenic viruses play a role in pathogenesis of DLBCL in PLWH (HIV-DLBCL). This scoping review aimed to describe the molecular landscape of HIV-DLBCL, investigate the impact of biomarker on clinical outcomes and describe technologies used to characterise HIV-DLBCL. Thirty-two papers published between 2001 and 2023 were included in this review. Samples of HIV-DLBCL were relatively small (16-110). Cohort effects influenced frequencies of molecular characteristics hence their impact on survival was not clear. Molecular features were distinct from HIVunrelated DLBCL. The most frequently assessed characteristic was cell of origin (81.3% of studies). Somatic mutations were the least researched (6.3% of studies). Overall, biomarker identification in HIV-DLBCL requires broader richer data from larger or pooled samples using more powerful techniques such as next-generation sequencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Estudos Feministas is the property of Revista Estudos Feministas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nigeria's widespread mixed epidemiology HIV program has achieved a 26% reduction in new infections since 2010. New HIV infections in Nigeria remain higher in key populations, adolescent girls and young women. Treatment as prevention was a relatively new concept in Nigeria in 2016, with U=U adopted and launched in 2019 by the Federal Ministry of Health. This paper provides justification on why a sustained focus on U=U campaigns in Nigeria will contribute to the successes of the Nigerian HIV program, improving the possibility of HIV epidemic control and attaining equitable health outcomes for all sub populations in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The HIV/AIDS prevention program among pregnant mothers aims to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to baby. It also aims to reduce stigma and discrimination, as well as deaths due to HIV/AIDS. This paper aimed to find out obstacles that occur in the implementation of HIV/AIDS transmission program in Indonesia. Methods Online literature search was done on Google Scholar, Science Direct and PubMed databases with the keywords related to “HIV/AIDS” and transmission prevention program among mothers to children. The search resulted in a total of 343 articles. Results After the abstracts were reviewed, there were only 16 articles selected. Conclusions The implementation of the program in Indonesia has been run but is not yet optimal because of several obstacles i.e., the insufficient number of health workers and poor knowledge of health workers. Figuring out solutions to the obstacles could ease the program implementation to reduce the cases of HIV/AIDS. Obstacles were found in the implementation of the HIV/AIDS prevention program among mothers and children in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we formulate and analyze a class of discrete state-structured epidemic models that spread through both horizontal and vertical transmissions on networks, where infected individuals can move from one infected state to any other state so that our models include all possible state-transfers (disease deterioration and amelioration) among different states. Many epidemic transmissions with or without vertical transmission in nature can be analyzed by referring to our models, such as HIV-1, viral hepatitis, and Covid-19. We derive the basic reproduction number $ \mathcal{R}_0 $ = $ \mathcal{R}_h $+ $ \mathcal{R}_v $, and prove that the global dynamics are completely determined by the basic reproduction number: if $ \mathcal{R}_0\leq 1 $, the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable and the disease always dies out; if $ \mathcal{R}_0>1 $, the disease-free equilibrium is unstable, and there exists a unique endemic equilibrium that is globally asymptotically stable, and the disease persists at a positive level in the population. It also implies that vertical transmission has an impact on maintaining infectious diseases when horizontal transmission cannot sustain the disease on its own. The proof of global stability is based on the graph-theoretic approach and answer the open problem left in [1]. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how transgender people were overlooked during COVID-19 to shed light on their predicaments and to offer them resources to deal with them as they are one of the most vulnerable parts of society. Four databases, including Pubmed, Psychinfo, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, were utilized to collect secondary data from published articles and grey literature. Transgender people faced several serious obstacles because of the outbreak of COVID-19, such as trouble accessing the government's social security programs during the lockdown. COVID-19 also left transgender people at a heightened risk of poverty and ill health because they exist on the margins of society, whose livelihoods are based on sex work, begging, and solicited endowments. They also ran a significantly higher risk of contracting SARS-CoV2 because they lived in congested areas or did not have permanent shelter, or were infected with fatal illnesses. Additionally, the pandemic raised unfavorable attitudes about transgender people, who already face trouble forming emotional relationships. The content analysis and data in this study give practical recommendations for supporting transgender individuals during the serious stages of the growth of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As interlocutors in national level discourse with the power to influence public opinion and inform policy, the news media are an important data source in understanding the constitutive roles played by culture and discourse in shaping health experiences and outcomes. This paper reports on a critical discourse analysis of news media coverage of HIV in the Republic of Ireland between 2006 and 2016. This period is significant because of the considerable increase in new HIV diagnoses that occurred in Ireland after the 2008 recession. Analysis of articles (n = 103) demonstrated a pattern of dividing practices whereby people living with or affected by HIV were frequently positioned as somatically and morally deficient via discourses of risk and responsibility. Little focus was given over to examination of the structural drivers of HIV, occluding the social context of the epidemic. The findings suggest that media discourses on HIV have the potential to other people living with HIV and generate stigma by invoking a dynamic of blame and shame frequently implicated in the stigma process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although significant progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, structural factors continue to undermine this progress, especially among racialized populations in many countries. For instance, African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) men in Canada face barriers - such as unemployment, stigma, and racism - that increase their vulnerability to health-related events including HIV/AIDS. However, there is a paucity of culturally appropriate responses to address these factors within the ACB population in Canada. Hence, this paper sought to identify the structural barriers that increase the vulnerability of ACB heterosexual men to HIV, and the strategies for building resilience in response to HIV. Material and methods: This paper is based on the qualitative findings from the weSpeak project, which was a mixed-methods study informed by community-based participatory research (CBPR). Qualitative data were collected from 63 participants in Ottawa, Canada through focus group discussions (FGD) and in-depth interviews (IDI). The participants included ACB heterosexual men, service providers, and policy/decision-makers. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo Version 11. Results: The themes were: 1) systemic barriers to employment and income, 2) healthcare access and uptake, 3) stigma, discrimination and racism, 4) strategies for responding to HIV vulnerabilities. The participants highlighted the difficulties that new immigrants faced with recognition of their academic credentials, which then limits their income and job opportunities. Healthcare services were underutilized because of privacy issues, insufficient physicians and long waiting periods. Also, HIV-related stigma, anti-Black racism and stereotypes were factors that limited health and economic options for the participants. However, the participants acknowledged that health education, collaboration and engagement with faith-based leaders can reduce HIV vulnerabilities. Conclusions: The study highlights the role of structural factors in increasing HIV vulnerability among ACB heterosexual men, and the need for multilevel interventions to foster better a HIV response within the ACB community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the sexual experiences of people involved in polyamorous relationships to determine the relation between polyamory and HIV/AIDS. The study was guided by social cognitive theory, constructivism, the meaning-making model and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four emerging themes are discussed: sex practices in polyamorous relationships; the construction of sexual rules and agreements; the value of trust and honesty; and psychosocial support and services for polyamorists. The study concludes that polyamory does not pose risk to HIV. The paper suggests a reconceptualization of the partner reduction policy which was influenced by Morris and Kretzchmar's (1997) mathematical model Further, the findings are crucial to social work practice in the area of HIV/AIDS and social work education, particularly in regards to anti-discrimination. Therefore, social work is called upon to be aware and sensitive to polyamorous relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Nowadays human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is very dangerous. HIV targets the resistant system and weakens people's denial against many contaminations and some kinds of cancer. As the virus breaks up and impairs the function of immunity, infected people gradually become immunodeficient. Both deep learning and machine learning models play a great role in the prediction of diseases. The function of immunity is CD4 cell count. In this study both the machine learning and deep learning algorithms were applied. Material and methods: In this paper the data were collected from data world. Support vector machine, random forest, naïve Bayes, gated recurrent unit, and long short-term memory were used to fit the incidence data. The performance of the model was evaluated by accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F-score with respective errors. Results: Based on the evaluation, deep learning models achieve better results in the metrics of accuracy, precision, and F-score than machine learning models. But in sensitivity metrics machine learning models achieve better result than deep learning. Machine learning algorithms SVM, RF, and NB provide accuracy of 89.00%, 87.00%, and 86.94%; precision of 75.89%, 74.97%, and 75.78%; sensitivity of 87.96%, 84.00%, and 84.12%; F-score of 82.87%, 80.03%, and 79.05%, respectively. LSTM, GRU provides accuracy of 97.65%, 96.00%, precision of 77.35%, 84.00%, sensitivity of 87.93%, 82.98%, and F-score of 82.03%, 83.20%, respectively. Conclusions: The possibility survival of the illness is less than no illness. The existence of TB negative is higher than TB positive. In the machine learning model SVM provides better sensitivity with 87.96%, long short-term memory provides accuracy of 97.65%, precision of 77.35%, sensitivity of 87.93%, and F-score of 82.03%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV), HIV, and substance use are serious intersecting public health issues. This paper aims to describe the Social Intervention Group (SIG)'s syndemic-focused interventions for women that address the co-occurrence of IPV, HIV, and substance use, referred to as the SAVA syndemic. We reviewed SIG intervention studies from 2000 to 2020 that evaluated the effectiveness of syndemic-focused interventions which addressed two or more outcomes related to reducing IPV, HIV, and substance use among different populations of women who use drugs. This review identified five interventions that co-targeted SAVA outcomes. Of the five interventions, four showed a significant reduction in risks for two or more outcomes related to IPV, substance use, and HIV. The significant effects of SIG's interventions on IPV, substance use, and HIV outcomes among different populations of women demonstrate the potential of using syndemic theory and methods in guiding effective SAVA-focused interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Since the introduction of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for managing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Nigeria, adherence to treatment has been a critical issue due to its importance in improving the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The aim of this paper is to determine level of adherence to ART, examine reasons for non-adherence and the association between socio-demographic characteristics, and adherence to ART among PLWHA who were attending the State Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria. These are with the view to establishing factors influencing adherence to ART among PLWHA in Nigeria. Material and methods: The health belief model and political economy perspectives framed the paper. Purposive/systematic sampling techniques were used to select 200 PLWHA (men and women) attending clinic in the State Hospital, Osogbo, South Western Nigeria. Results: Findings indicated adherence level of 69%. Furthermore, the reasons for non-adherence were forgetfulness (21.5%), work/travel (16.0%), fasting and spiritual interruption (8.5%), inadequate meal (7.0%), stigma (7.0%), and side effect of the drug (7.0%). It was revealed that the size of the ART was too big for some of the respondents, which militated against adherence. Moreover, the socio-demographic characteristics that influenced adherence were sex, age, marital status, marriage type, education, number of children, and occupation. However, most of these influences were not statistically significant. Finally, respondents' suggestions on how to improve adherence were PLWHA should be encouraged to take their drugs (33.5%), improve the size because it is too big (10.0%), educate PLWHA (24.0%), make ART more private (9.0%), and legislation on stigma (9.5%). Conclusions: The paper concluded that health behavior of PLWHA, socio-economic, and demographic factors influenced PLWHA's adherence to ART in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how poor health outcomes in the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics in the United States are undergirded by iatrogenesis. Data are drawn from two projects in Southern California: one among men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging with pre-exposure prophylaxis to HIV (PrEP) and the other in a public hospital system encountering patients with chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD). Ethnographic evidence demonstrates how efforts to minimize risk via PrEP and opioid prescription regulation paradoxically generate new forms of risk. Biomedical risk management paradigms engaged across the paper's two ethnographic field sites hinge on the production and governance of deserving patienthood, which is defined by providers and experienced by patients through moral judgments about risk underlying both increased surveillance and abandonment. This paper argues that the logic of deservingness disconnects clinical evaluations of risk from patients' lived, intersectional experiences of race, class, gender, and sexuality. This paper's analysis thus re-locates patients in the context of broader historical and sociopolitical trajectories to highlight how notions of clinical risk designed to protect patients can in fact imperil them. Misalignment between official, clinical constructions of risk and the embodied experience of risk borne by patients produces iatrogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is responsible for two‐thirds of the global total of new HIV infections. South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Malawi, and Ethiopia were responsible for 80% of HIV cases in Africa in 2014 according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). This study assesses antiretroviral coverage strategies implemented by these countries after the initiation of the "Fast‐Track strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030." Data reported in this review were obtained from different e‐bibliographic including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Research Gate. Key terms were "Antiretroviral therapy," "Antiretroviral treatment," "HIV treatment," "HIV medication," "HIV/AIDS therapy," "HIV/AIDS treatment" + each of the countries listed earlier. We also extracted data on antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage from the UNAIDS database. About 50 papers published from 2015 to 2021 met the inclusion criteria. All 10 countries have experienced an increase in ART coverage from 2015 to 2020 with an average of 47.6% increment. Nigeria recorded the highest increase in the rate of ART coverage (72% increase) while Ethiopia had the least (30%). New strategies adopted to increase ART coverage and retention in most countries were community‐based models and the use of mobile health technology rather than clinic‐based. These strategies focus on promoting task shifting, door‐to‐door access to HIV services, and a long‐term supply of antiretroviral medications. Most of these strategies are still in the piloting stage. However, some new strategies and frameworks have been adopted nationwide in countries like Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Malawi. Identified challenges include lack of funding, inadequate testing and surveillance services, poor digital penetration, and cultural/religious beliefs. The adoption of community‐based and digital health strategies could have contributed to increased ART coverage and retention. African countries should facilitate nationwide scaling of ART coverage strategies to attain the 95–95–95 goal by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into account the effects of the heterogeneity of the population and media coverage on disease transmission, in this paper, a hybrid HIV/AIDS model with age-structure, self-protection awareness and media coverage is formulated, which is made up of five partial differential equations (PDEs) and one ordinary differential equation (ODE). We establish the existence of the solution associated with the hybrid system and prove that the solution is unique, bounded and positive utilizing the semigroup approach. Based on the basic reproduction number R 0 , the threshold dynamics of this model are rigorously investigated, that is, there always is a unique disease-free steady state E 0 and it is globally stable when R 0 < 1 , that is, the disease dies out. Further, there exists a unique endemic steady state E * and it is locally stable when R 0 > 1 and some additional technical conditions are met. In addition, the uniform persistence of this hybrid system is demonstrated for R 0 > 1 , which means that the disease remains at the endemic level for a long time, which is not discussed in other age-structured infectious disease articles. Numerical simulations are also given to explain the main theoretical results, which suggest that age variability is a non-negligible factor in HIV/AIDS transmission, that is, the moment and scale of HIV/AIDS outbreaks are diverse for people of different ages, and media coverage can encourage people to take steps to avoid potential infection and control the spread of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arunachal Pradesh has been placed amongst the highest ranking states in terms of drug and substance use in the National Survey of 2019. Risky sexual behaviours are considered to be associated with an increasing use of drugs. The main objective of the study is to examine the intersection between injecting drug use and sexual behaviour and to assess the level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS among the injecting drug-using youths of Arunachal Pradesh. The data for the present study was collected on a structured questionnaire from a sample of 1000 youth from four study areas purposively selected. A significant number of them (14%) have reported or perceived to be injecting drug users. The cross-tabulation and Pearson Chi-square test is performed to test significant association between the variables. The results show that there is a high prevalence of risky sexual and injecting behaviours and poor level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS. A statistically significant association is established between the variables of drug use and risky sexual behaviours. However, delineating the direct causal relationship between drug use and sexual behaviour is considered to be a complex one, because a wide variety of socio-cultural and psychological factors influenced it. The paper concludes with the suggestion that future social research needs to focus on examining the social interaction and social relations of drug use and sexual activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A person‐centred model of care, developed in the early days of the HIV epidemic when there were no effective treatments for HIV, led to relatively close relationships between carers and people living with HIV (PLWH). Our study examines the experiences of carers using a relational framework, exploring the traumas and challenges involved, coping practices instigated by carers and the emergence of 'relational traumatic growth' opportunities. Methods: Twenty‐two UK healthcare workers and charity volunteers working with PLWH from the early years of the epidemic were recruited. Semistructured interviews were used to elicit participants' own stories of working with PLWH, from their initial involvement to the present time, and their reflections on the personal impact of working in the field of HIV. Data were analysed using a thematic approach employing relational categories. Results: The impact of care was related to the formation of close relationships, identification with PLWH, high numbers of deaths and the difficulties and challenges encountered relationally. Participants described attempts to cope through informal and formal support, as well as endeavours to manage professional boundaries. Various ways of making sense of experiences were described, ranging from denial to abandoning the HIV field, to intense commitment. For some, traumatic experiences lead to validation, a search for personal meaning and managing the sense of loss with an exploration of further ventures, contributing to the achievement of relational traumatic growth. Conclusion: The intensity of relationships in HIV work, developed through the emotional and practical work of caring for PLWH, led healthcare workers and volunteers to experience a range of psychological consequences, both negative (including distress and emotional exhaustion) and also positive (such as acquiring a sense of purpose). Patient or Public Contribution: People living with HIV and those working with them were involved in the initial study conceptualization and design. The second and fourth authors of this paper were professionals working in HIV throughout the pandemic and have led on all aspects of the study. People living with HIV and those working with them additionally guided participant selection by suggesting participants and supporting recruitment. Narrative transcripts were checked and amended (if necessary) by participants. Initial findings were presented at the AIDS impact conference, where PLWH and those working with them attended and feedback on important ideas that helped to prioritize and shape the study findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research recruitment, eligibility, and who chooses to participate shape the resulting data and knowledge, which together inform interventions, treatment, and programming. Patterns of research participation are particularly salient at this moment given emerging biomedical prevention paradigms. This paper explores the perspectives of Black and Latino young men who have sex with men (BL-YMSM) regarding research recruitment and eligibility criteria, how their experiences influence willingness to enroll in a given study, and implications for the veracity and representativeness of resulting data. We examine inclusion and recruitment as a complex assemblage, which should not be reduced to its parts. From April to July 2018, we conducted in-depth interviews with 30 BL-YMSM, ages 18–29, in New York City. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Black and Latino YMSM's responses unveiled tensions between researchers', recruiters', and participants' expectations, particularly regarding eligibility criteria (e.g. age, sex frequency), assumptions about 'risky behaviors,' and the 'target' community. Men preferred peer-to-peer recruitment, noting that most approaches miss key population segments. Findings highlight the need to critically examine the selected 'target' community, who sees themselves as participants, and implications for data comprehensiveness and veracity. Study eligibility criteria and recruitment approaches are methodological issues that shape knowledge production and the policies and programs deployed into communities. These findings can inform how future research studies frame recruitment and eligibility in order to better meet the needs of participants and ensure future research engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, to investigate the synthetic effect of PrEP (pre‐exposure prophylaxis) and ART (antiretrovial therapy) on HIV transmission among MSM (men who have sex with men) in heterogenous environment, a realistic HIV epidemic model with spatial diffusion is established. Here, HIV infectious people are divided into three immunity based compartments, that is, CD4+ T cell count less than 350, between 350 and 500, and more than 500, respectively. The basic reproduction number R0 is established and proved as a threshold parameter: The global asymptotic stability of the disease‐free steady state holds for R0<1, and the disease will be present if R0>1. Considering the substantial advantages of PrEP and ART in controlling HIV transmissions among MSM, the optimal control problem is presented for the case of positive constant diffusion coefficients, which minimize the total population of susceptible individual and HIV infected individual, the cost of PrEP and ART therapy. As an illustration of our theoretical results, we conduct numerical simulations. We also conduct an optimal control case study where model parameters are estimated from the demographic and epidemiological data from China. This work suggests the following: (1) Spatial factors cannot be ignored during the HIV intervention; (2)taking the PrEP intervention measure for HIV transmissions among MSM as early as possible will help to improve the control efficiency and reduces its cost; (3) reducing the PrEP drug costs will promote the efficiency of PrEP treatment in preventing the spread of HIV among MSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various barriers make recruiting a difficult task for researchers, especially when recruiting people living with HIV (PLWH) or conducting longitudinal studies. Effective recruitment is crucial to the validity of studies, and in this regard, social media can come to aid, although researchers usually rely on paid advertisements. This paper describes the free social media strategies used for participant recruitment in two studies carried out with PLWH in Spain and Latin America. Study 1 was a cross‐sectional study on the validation of two stigma scales with a 1‐month retest. Study 2 was a longitudinal study exploring the mental health of newly diagnosed PLWH, with a second assessment after 6 months. Facebook posts, Twitter mentions, and discussion forums were used in both studies. Study 2 also recruited participants through a healthcare centre. In Study 1, 5‐month recruitment yielded a sample of 458 PLWH, averaging 91.6 surveys/month and a 43% retention rate. In study 2, recruitment took 16 months, yielding a final sample of 145 newly diagnosed PLWH, 92 from the healthcare centre (5.75 surveys/month) and 53 from social media (3.31 surveys/month), with 95% and 60% retention rates, respectively. Participants in Study 2 did not differ in sociodemographic characteristics by recruitment method, except for the region of origin and financial difficulty (more diverse origin and greater difficulty emerged in social media participants). Greater psychological distress and lower personal and social resources were also found in social media participants. These data indicate that free social media recruitment is a feasible and effective tool for the recruitment of Spanish‐speaking PLWH, although it is best used in combination with traditional methods for newly diagnosed PLWH and longitudinal studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]