Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal, newborn, and child health service coverage in Burkina Faso.

Background: While countries' coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency contingency and response plans aimed to prevent and control the spread of the virus, they also caused major disruptions to health services. We assessed the effects of COVID-19 on coverage and inequalities in select maternal, newborn, and child health services in Burkina Faso.

Methods: We analysed data from two cross-sectional household surveys conducted in two provinces, one rural and one urban.

Correcting for Verbal Autopsy Misclassification Bias in Cause-Specific Mortality Estimates.

Verbal autopsies (VAs) are extensively used to determine cause of death (COD) in many low- and middle-income countries. However, COD determination from VA can be inaccurate. Computer coded verbal autopsy (CCVA) algorithms used for this task are imperfect and misclassify COD for a large proportion of deaths.

Completeness and Factors Affecting Community Workers' Reporting of Births and Deaths in the Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action in Mozambique.

Since March 2018, the Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action project, implemented as a national sample registration system by the Mozambique Instituto Nacional de Saude and the Instituto Nacional de Estatistica in 700 geographic clusters randomly distributed across the 11 provinces, has trained and deployed community surveillance agents (CSAs) to report births and deaths in each cluster prospectively. An independent, retrospective data collection was conducted to assess the completeness of surveillance data. Record linkage procedures were used to match households and vital events reported in the two data sources.

Multi-Cause Calibration of Verbal Autopsy-Based Cause-Specific Mortality Estimates of Children and Neonates in Mozambique.

The Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action platform is collecting verbal autopsy (VA) records from a nationally representative sample in Mozambique. These records are used to estimate the national and subnational cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMFs) for children (1-59 months) and neonates (1-28 days). Cross-tabulation of VA-based cause-of-death (COD) determination against that from the minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) from the Child Health and Mortality Prevention project revealed important misclassification errors for all the VA algorithms, which if not accounted for will lead to bias in the estimates of CSMF from VA.

Clustering of subpatent infections in households with asymptomatic rapid diagnostic test-positive cases in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea independent of travel to regions of higher malaria endemicity: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Prevalence of falciparum malaria on Bioko Island remains high despite sustained, intensive control. Progress may be hindered by high proportions of subpatent infections that are not detected by rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) but contribute to onward transmission, and by imported infections. Better understanding of the relationship between subpatent infections and RDT-detected infections, and whether this relationship is different from imported versus locally acquired infections, is imperative to better understand the sources of infection and mechanisms of transmission to tailor more effective interventions.

Explaining progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4 for child survival in Tanzania.

Background: During the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era (1990-2015) the government in Mainland Tanzania and partners launched numerous initiatives to advance child survival including the comprehensive One Plan for Maternal Newborn and Child Health in 2008-2015 and a "sharpened" One Plan strategy in early 2014. Moving into the Sustainable Development Goal era, the government needs to learn from successes and challenges of striving towards MDG 4.

Methods: We expand previous work by presenting data for the full MDG period and sub-national results.

Prevalence of Hypertension and Its Associated Risk Factors among 34,111 HAART Naïve HIV-Infected Adults in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

. Elevated blood pressure has been reported among treatment naïve HIV-infected patients. We investigated prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors in a HAART naïve HIV-infected population in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Mortality and treatment failure among HIV-infected adults in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Objectives: Monitoring antiretroviral treatment (ART) outcomes is essential for assessing the success of HIV care and treatment programs in resource-limited settings (RLS).

Methods: Longitudinal analyses of clinical and immunologic parameters in HIV-infected adults initiated on ART between November 2004 and June 2008 at Management and Development for Health (MDH)-Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief PEPFAR supported HIV care and treatment clinics in Tanzania.

Results: A total of 12 842 patients were analyzed (65.

Nutritional status and mortality among HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in Tanzania.

Background: Poor nutritional status is associated with immunologic impairment and adverse health outcomes among adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Methods: We investigated body mass index (BMI), middle upper arm circumference (MUAC), and hemoglobin (Hgb) concentrations at initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 18,271 HIV-infected Tanzanian adults and their changes in the first 3 months of ART, in relation to the subsequent risk of death.

Results: Lower BMI, MUAC, and Hgb concentrations at ART initiation were strongly associated with a higher risk of death within 3 months.

Influence of HLA class I and HLA-KIR compound genotypes on HIV-2 infection and markers of disease progression in a Manjako community in West Africa.

Overall, the time to AIDS after HIV-2 infection is longer than with HIV-1, and many individuals infected with HIV-2 virus remain healthy throughout their lives. Multiple HLA and KIR gene products have been implicated in the control of HIV-1, but the effect of variation at these loci on HIV-2 disease is unknown. We show here for the first time that HLA-B*1503 is associated significantly with poor prognosis after HIV-2 infection and that HLA-B*0801 is associated with susceptibility to infection.

Long-term protection against HBV chronic carriage of Gambian adolescents vaccinated in infancy and immune response in HBV booster trial in adolescence.

Background: Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) arising in childhood is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in adult life. Between 1986 and 1990, approximately 120,000 Gambian newborns were enrolled in a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of infant HBV vaccination on the prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma in adulthood. These children are now in adolescence and approaching adulthood, when the onset of sexual activity may challenge their hepatitis B immunity.

Risk factors for and clinical outcome of congenital cytomegalovirus infection in a peri-urban West-African birth cohort.

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most prevalent congenital infection worldwide. Epidemiology and clinical outcomes are known to vary with socio-economic background, but few data are available from developing countries, where the overall burden of infectious diseases is frequently high.

Methodology/principal Findings: As part of an ongoing birth cohort study in The Gambia among term infants, urine samples were collected at birth and tested by PCR for the presence of CMV DNA.

Body mass index at time of HIV diagnosis: a strong and independent predictor of survival.

Background: Identification of basic prognostic indicators of HIV infection is essential before widespread antiretroviral therapy can be implemented in low-technology settings. This study assessed how well body mass index (BMI:kg/m2) predicts survival.

Methods: BMI within 3 months of HIV diagnosis was obtained from 1657 patients aged > or = 15 years, recruited in a seroprevalent clinical cohort in The Gambia since 1992 and followed up at least once.

Incidence of tuberculosis and survival after its diagnosis in patients infected with HIV-1 and HIV-2.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, tuberculosis (TB) is the most frequently diagnosed opportunistic infection and cause of death among HIV-infected patients. HIV-2 has been associated with less immune suppression, slower disease progression and longer survival.

Objective: To examine whether the incidence of TB and survival after TB are associated with CD4 cell count rather than HIV type.

Mortality of HIV-1, HIV-2 and HIV-1/HIV-2 dually infected patients in a clinic-based cohort in The Gambia.

Objective: To assess and compare the mortality rates of patients with HIV-1, HIV-2 or both infections (HIV-D) in the same population.

Design: Clinic-based cohort study.

Methods: HIV-seropositive patients aged 15 years and older who attended the Medical Research Council clinics in Fajara between May 1986 and September 1997 were recruited.