Publications by authors named "Alice Anne Zwerling"

Objectives: HIV self-testing (HIVST) has been proposed as an innovative strategy to diagnose human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While HIVST offers the potential to broaden accessibility of early HIV diagnosis and treatment initiation, this testing strategy incurs additional cost and requires confirmatory testing and treatment. We have conducted the first systematic review to summarize the current economic literature for HIVST in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

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Background: (CT) and (GC) resulted in over 200 million new sexually transmitted infections last year. Self-sampling strategies alone or combined with digital innovations (ie, online, mobile or computing technologies supporting self-sampling) could improve screening methods. Evidence on all outcomes has not yet been synthesised, so we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to address this limitation.

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The BCG vaccine is a widely given vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), yet studies on effectiveness have shown considerable heterogeneity; as a result, BCG vaccine policies vary greatly across the globe and change across geography, and with time and disease burden. The recently updated third BCG World Atlas (www.bcgatlas.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated the effectiveness of an app-based, personalized oral HIV self-testing (HIVST) program in Western Cape, South Africa, comparing it against conventional HIV testing methods in a quasirandomized trial with 3,095 participants.
  • Participants in the HIVST group (n=1,535) had higher engagement with unsupervised testing (62.7% chose offsite options), reported higher numbers of sexual partners, and demonstrated significant linkage to care after testing (99.7% vs 98.5% in ConvHT).
  • The program successfully detected new HIV infections (overall 9% for HIVST compared to 6.79% for ConvHT) and significantly increased referrals for self-testing (
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Background: HIV self-testing (HIVST) is recommended by the WHO as an innovative strategy to reach UNAIDS targets to end HIV by 2030. HIVST with digital supports is defined as the use of digital interventions (e.g.

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