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Background: Minoritized communities in the United States have had higher COVID-19 mortality and lower vaccine uptake. The influence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, initial disease severity, and persistent symptoms on COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Black and Latinx communities has not been examined., Objective: To investigate whether initial COVID-19 severity, persistent symptoms, and other correlates affected vaccine uptake in a predominantly minoritized cohort hospitalized for COVID-19 during the early pandemic in New York City., Design: In this historical cohort study, we abstracted electronic health record data on demographics, comorbidities, hospital oxygen requirements, symptoms at 3 and 6 months post-admission, COVID-19 vaccinations through November 2022, and influenza vaccinations during the 2018-2019 through 2021-2022 seasons. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were estimated through logistic regression analyses of correlates of COVID-19 vaccination, on-time vaccination, and boosting., Participants: Survivors among the first 1186 adult patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between March 1 and April 8, 2020 at a large quaternary care medical center in Northern Manhattan., Main Measures: Uptake of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, uptake of at least one booster, and on-time vaccination., Key Results: The 890 surviving individuals were predominantly Latinx (54%) and Non-Hispanic Black (15%). Most had one or more comorbidities (67%), and received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (78%). Among those vaccinated, 57% received at least one booster, and 31% delayed vaccination. 67% experienced persistent symptoms. Multiple logistic regression showed no association between vaccine uptake and disease severity or symptom persistence. However, older age and influenza vaccination during the COVID-19 era were associated with increased vaccination, booster uptake, and on-time vaccination., Conclusions: Pinpointing drivers of vaccine uptake and hesitancy is critical to increasing and sustaining COVID-19 vaccination as the field transitions to annual boosters. The association between influenza vaccination and increased vaccine uptake suggests that bundling vaccines for adults may be an effective delivery strategy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Delivette Castor and Magdalena Sobieszczyk report financial support was provided by Gilead Sciences, Inc. Magdalena Sobieszczyk reports a relationship with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that includes: funding grants. Magdalena Sobieszczyk reports a relationship with Merck & Co Inc. that includes: funding grants. Magdalena Sobieszczyk reports a relationship with Sanofi that includes: funding grants. Magdalena Sobieszczyk reports a relationship with Pfizer Inc. that includes: funding grants. Jason Zucker reports a relationship with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that includes: funding grants. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. JZ has received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the past 3 years. MES has received grants from the Gates Foundation, Merck, Sanofi, and Pfizer within the past 3 years for work outside the scope of this manuscript. Otherwise, the authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Some African countries plan to introduce and scale-up new long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis methods (LA-PrEP), like the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring (PrEP ring) and injectable cabotegravir. National costed implementation plans, roadmaps for successful product implementation, are often overlooked. International stakeholders engaged in oral PrEP planning, introduction and scale-up are an information resource of lessons learned to advise LA-PrEP planning. We consulted such international stakeholders and synthesised oral PrEP lessons to inform the development of a costed rollout plan template for LA-PrEP., Methods: From selected global health organisations (five international nongovernmental, four donor, four university/research and two multilateral), we interviewed 27 representatives based in America, Europe, Asia and Africa about strategic content and approaches for LA-PrEP policy, programming and implementation. We conducted a thematic analysis of the interview data for implementation considerations., Results: From the consultations, we identified six implementation themes for LA-PrEP introduction and scale-up: (1) ethically increasing choice and avoiding coercion; (2) de-stigmatising PrEP by focusing on preference rather than risk-based eligibility; (3) integrating LA-PrEP into services that are more woman-oriented, couple-oriented and family-oriented, and providing private spaces for LA-PrEP delivery; (4) de-medicalising delivery of relatively safe products (eg, PrEP ring); (5) constructing multilevel, nuanced communication strategies to address measured and perceived product efficacy and effectiveness; and (6) devising product-agnostic, modular approaches to service delivery. Despite the widespread emphasis on integration, few stakeholders offered empirical examples of successful integration approaches and frameworks., Conclusions: Lessons learnt from stakeholder participants suggest standardised and modular processes can improve efficiencies in LA-PrEP planning and implementation. Tiered communication strategies addressing product efficacy and effectiveness will improve clients' and providers' efficacy in making informed decisions. Integration is important for LA-PrEP delivery, but data on empirical integration approaches and frameworks is minimal: further research in this discipline is needed., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Stakeholders question whether implementation science (IS) is successful in conducting rigorous science that expedites the inclusion of health innovations into policies and accelerates the pace and scale of health service delivery into clinical and public health practice. Using the Payback Framework (PF) for research utilization (RU), we assessed the impact of USAID's IS investment on a subset of studies examining HIV prevention, care, and treatment., Setting: Selected USAID-funded IS awards implemented between 2012 and 2017 in 9 sub-Saharan African countries., Methods: A modified version of a RU framework, the PF, was applied to 10 USAID-funded IS awards. A semistructured, self-administered/interviewer-administered questionnaire representing operational items for the 5 categories of the modified PF was used to describe the type and to quantify the level of payback achieved. The raw score was tallied within and across the 5 PF categories, and the percentage of "payback" achieved by category was tabulated. Distribution of payback scores was summarized by tertiles., Results: Knowledge production had the highest level of payback (75%), followed by benefits to future research (70%), benefits to policy (45%), benefits to health and the health system (18%), and broader economic benefits (5%)., Conclusions: All awards achieved some level of knowledge production and benefits to future research, but translation to policy and programs was low and variable. We propose the use of policy, health system, and economic monitoring indicators of RU throughout the research process to increase IS studies' impact on health practice, programs, and policy.

Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) are disproportionately affected by HIV even in the most generalized HIV epidemics. Although structural HIV risks have been understood to affect condom negotiation among FSWs globally, there remain limited data on the relationship between structural determinants of HIV risk, including violence and socioeconomic status, and condom use among FSWs across sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we describe the prevalence of structural determinants and their associations with condom use among FSWs in Senegal., Methods: In 2015, 758 FSWs >18 years of age were recruited using respondent driven sampling in Senegal. Data on individual, community, network, and structural-level risks were collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression with robust variance estimation was used to model the associations of consistent condom use (CCU) and selected structural determinants., Results: The respondent driven sampling-adjusted prevalence of CCU in the last 10 sexual acts was 76.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 70.8 to 82.8]. Structural determinants that were significantly associated with lower CCU were as follows: physical violence [adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR): 0.71; 95% CI: 0.52 to 0.98]; working primarily in a hotel or guest house (aPR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.73 to 0.99); and difficultly accessing condoms (aPR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.52 to 0.96). High income from sex work (aPR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.46) was significantly associated with higher CCU., Conclusions: Taken together, these data highlight the role of structural risk determinants on condom use among FSWs in Senegal. Moreover, these results highlight the need for structural interventions, including safe working spaces and violence mitigation programs, to support condom negotiation and access. Combined with condom distribution programs, structural interventions could ultimately increase condom use among FSWs in Senegal.

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW) are consistently shown to have a higher burden of HIV compared with other adults in Senegal. This study, HIV Prevention 2.0, evaluates the impact of the 3-tiered integrated stigma mitigation interventions (ISMIs) approach to optimizing HIV service delivery for key populations in Senegal., Methods: Baseline assessment includes a questionnaire and biological testing for HIV. A proportion of participants enrolled into a 24-month longitudinal cohort with questionnaires and biological testing every 3 months. In these preliminary analyses, ISMIs are evaluated from participants in the cohort through uptake of HIV services and implementation outcomes., Results: Overall, 724 MSM and 758 FSW participated in the baseline assessment. HIV prevalence is 30.2% (n = 219/724) among MSM and 5.3% (n = 40/758) among FSW. Fear of seeking health services among MSM is 17.7% (n = 128/724) at baseline, 10.5% (n = 18/172) at month 3, and 9.8% (n = 10/102) at month 6 (P < 0.004); and among FSW is 21.9% (n = 166/758) at baseline, 8.1% (n = 15/185) at month 3, and 10.7% (n = 18/168) at month 6 (P < 0.001). Overall, 63.9% (n = 62/97) of MSM and 82.5% (n = 118/143) of FSW agreed that the intervention is effective in addressing stigma; however, loss to follow-up was 41.1% among MSM and 10% among FSW., Conclusion: Baseline data reinforce the need for stigma mitigation interventions, combined with enhanced linkage and retention to optimize HIV treatment. Preliminary results show high levels of HIV-related risk determinants and suggest the potential utility of the ISMI to decrease perceived stigma relating to engagement in HIV prevention, treatment, and care services among key populations in Senegal., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

In resource-limited countries, interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) have not yet realized their full potential health impact, illustrating the common gap between the scientific proof of an intervention's efficacy and effectiveness and its successful implementation at scale into routine health services. For PMTCT, this gap results, in part, from inadequate adaptation of PMTCT interventions to the realities of the implementation environment, including client and health care worker behaviors and preferences, health care policies and systems, and infrastructure and resource constraints. Elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission can only be achieved through understanding of key implementation barriers and successful adaptation of scientifically proven interventions to the local environment. Central to such efforts is implementation science (IS), which aims to investigate and address major bottlenecks that impede effective implementation and to test new approaches to identifying, understanding, and overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions. Advancing IS will require deliberate and strategic efforts to facilitate collaboration, communication, and relationship-building among researchers, implementers, and policy-makers. To speed the translation of effective PMTCT interventions into practice and advance IS more broadly, the US National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launched the National Institutes of Health/President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PMTCT IS Alliance, comprised of IS researchers, PMTCT program implementers, and policy-makers as an innovative platform for interaction and coordination.

Background and Methods: By December 2013, it was estimated that close to 6 million men had been circumcised in the 14 priority countries for scaling up voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), the majority being adolescents (10-19 years). This article discusses why efforts to scale up VMMC should prioritize adolescent men, drawing from new evidence and experiences at the international, country, and service delivery levels. Furthermore, we review the extent to which VMMC programs have reached adolescents, addressed their specific needs, and can be linked to their sexual and reproductive health and other key services., Results and Discussion: In priority countries, adolescents represent 34%-55% of the target population to be circumcised, whereas program data from these countries show that adolescents represent between 35% and 74% of the circumcised men. VMMC for adolescents has several advantages: uptake of services among adolescents is culturally and socially more acceptable than for adults; there are fewer barriers regarding sexual abstinence during healing or female partner pressures; VMMC performed before the age of sexual debut has maximum long-term impact on reducing HIV risk at the individual level and consequently reduces the risk of transmission in the population. Offered as a comprehensive package, adolescent VMMC can potentially increase public health benefits and offers opportunities for addressing gender norms. Additional research is needed to assess whether current VMMC services address the specific needs of adolescent clients, to test adapted tools, and to assess linkages between VMMC and other adolescent-focused HIV, health, and social services.

Steady-state pharmacokinetics in pregnant women prescribed ritonavir-boosted fosamprenavir (FPV) to prevent HIV transmission were assessed in the second trimester, third trimester, and postpartum. Compared with postpartum, geometric mean amprenavir (APV, FPVs active metabolite) area under the plasma concentration-time curves were 35% lower in the second trimester and 25% lower in the third trimester. Maternal APV concentrations were 9- to 15-fold above the mean APV protein-adjusted 50% inhibitory concentration for wild-type HIV. Median ratio of cord blood/maternal APV levels was 0.27, and all infants were HIV negative. FPV/ritonavir during pregnancy was well tolerated and led to virologic suppression.

Background: Transmitted drug resistance (TDR) is critical to managing HIV-1-infected individuals and being a public health concern. We report on TDR prevalence and include analyses of phylogenetic clustering of HIV-1 in a predominantly men who have sex with men cohort diagnosed during acute/recent HIV-1 infection in New York City., Methods: Genotypic resistance testing was conducted on plasma samples of 600 individuals with acute/recent HIV-1 infection (1995-2010). Sequences were used for resistance and phylogenetic analyses. Demographic and clinical data were abstracted from medical records. TDR was defined according to International AIDS Society-USA and Stanford HIV database guidelines. Phylogenetic and other analyses were conducted using PAUP*4.0 and SAS, respectively., Results: The mean duration since HIV-1 infection was 66.5 days. TDR prevalence was 14.3% and stably ranged between 10.8% and 21.6% (P(trend) = 0.42). Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors resistance declined from 15.5% to 2.7% over the study period (P(trend) = 0.005). M41L (3.7%), T215Y (4.0%), and K103N/S (4.7%) were the most common mutations. K103N/S prevalence increased from 1.9% to 8.0% between 1995 and 2010 (P(trend) = 0.04). Using a rigorous definition of clustering, 19.3% (112 of 581) of subtype B viral sequences cosegregated into transmission clusters and clusters increased over time. There were fewer and smaller transmission clusters than had been reported in a similar cohort in Montreal but similar to reports from elsewhere., Conclusions: TDR is stable in this cohort and remains a significant concern to both individual patient management and the public health.

Background: Clinically relevant cutoffs are needed for the interpretation of HIV-1 phenotypic resistance estimates as predicted by "virtual" phenotype HIV resistance analysis., Methods: Using a clinical data set containing 2596 treatment change episodes in 2217 patients in 8 clinical trials and 2 population-based cohorts, drug-specific linear regression models were developed to describe the relation between baseline characteristics (resistance, viral load, and treatment history), new treatment regimen selected, and 8-week virologic outcome., Results: These models were used to derive clinical cutoffs (CCOs) for 6 nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (zidovudine, lamivudine, stavudine, didanosine, abacavir, and tenofovir), 3 unboosted protease inhibitors (PIs; indinavir, amprenavir, and nelfinavir), and 4 ritonavir-boosted PIs (indinavir/ritonavir, amprenavir/ritonavir, saquinavir/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir). The CCOs were defined as the phenotypic resistance levels (fold change [FC]) associated with a 20% and 80% loss of predicted wild-type drug effect and depended on the drug-specific dynamic range of the assay., Conclusions: The proposed CCOs were better correlated with virologic response than were biological cutoffs and provide a relevant tool for estimating the resistance to antiretroviral drug combinations used in clinical practice. They can be applied to diverse patient populations and are based on a consistent methodologic approach to interpreting phenotypic drug resistance.