Evaluation of the rapid, multi-country, parallel process, multi-tasking approach to startup of short-term technical assistance to improve service delivery in newborn and child health in the context of USAID's Zika response in four Eastern and Southern Caribbean countries.

In 2018, the USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project started a new partnership with four Eastern and Southern Caribbean countries impacted by the Zika virus: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Evolving understanding of the epidemiology of HIV and prevention needs among men who have sex with men in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

This study describes HIV and syphilis bio-behavioral survey conducted among 200 men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited via respondent-driven sampling (RDS) between January 4 and February 1, 2012 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Participants were administered a structured questionnaire and data were analyzed with RDS-network program in STATA. Of 196 participants who agreed to be tested for HIV and syphilis, 21 (10.

HIV and sexually transmitted infection-related risks among female sex workers in Mongolia: second-generation surveillance survey, 2011-2012.

Background: Surveillance studies among female sex workers (FSWs) in Mongolia have found no HIV but high rates of syphilis, ranging from 10.7% in 2002 to 20.8% in 2007.

HIV among female sex workers in the Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan, and Mongolia: contexts and convergence with drug use.

Background: Central Asia is culturally and demographically diverse, both between and within its respective countries. That diversity is represented in the range of individual, network, community, and structural risks for female sex workers (FSWs) regionally. FSWs have several risk factors for HIV acquisition and transmission including behavioral, biological, and structural risk factors.

Chlamydia trachomatis age-specific prevalence in women who used an internet-based self-screening program compared to women who were screened in family planning clinics.

Objectives: To determine whether women who collect self-collected vaginal swabs at home demonstrated a higher positivity of Chlamydia trachomatis than women in family planning clinics.

Methods: Collection kits for vaginal swabs were internet requested, collected at home, and mailed to a laboratory for testing; questionnaires were completed about acceptability and sexual risk history. Infected women received treatment at participating clinics.

Performance of three nucleic acid amplification tests for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae by use of self-collected vaginal swabs obtained via an Internet-based screening program.

Use of self-obtained vaginal specimens processed by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) has significantly increased the utilization of nontraditional locations for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae screening programs. One important emerging source of such venues includes home-based self-sampling kits available via the Internet. The objective of our study was to evaluate the performance of three commercially available NAATs (Becton-Dickinson ProbeTec SDA, Gen-Probe Aptima Combo2 TMA, and Roche Amplicor PCR) for detection of C.