Strengthening primary health care in low- and middle-income countries: furthering structural changes in the post-pandemic era.

Strengthening primary health care (PHC) is the most cost-effective approach in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to achieve sustainable universal health coverage (UHC), protect against health shocks, and promote health and wellbeing for all people. It has been 45 years since PHC was put on the global agenda followed by multiple efforts to advocate for more funding and improved performance of PHC. Yet, investment in PHC is still insufficient and overall performance of PHC systems is weak in LMICs, resulting in increased vulnerability and poor health outcomes especially among marginalized populations.

Improving management of tuberculosis in people living with HIV in South Africa through integration of HIV and tuberculosis services: a proof of concept study.

Background: South Africa's tuberculosis burden is the third highest globally and is closely associated with the country's devastating HIV epidemic. The separation of HIV and TB services in primary healthcare services in South Africa hampers TB case finding in patients who are co-infected with HIV and TB. This operational proof of concept study assessed an approach to improving tuberculosis detection and treatment by integrating tuberculosis management into HIV care.

Key harm reduction interventions and their impact on the reduction of risky behavior and HIV incidence among people who inject drugs in low-income and middle-income countries.

Purpose Of Review: HIV infection rates continue to rise among people who inject drugs (PWID) in many lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although progress is being made in prevention and care for PWID in some settings, coverage of essential services remains low. This article reviews the evidence for the benefits of scaling up key interventions as a combination prevention and treatment package for PWID.

HIV-1 epidemic in the Caribbean is dominated by subtype B.

Background: The molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in the Caribbean has been described using partial genome sequencing; subtype B is the most common subtype in multiple countries. To expand our knowledge of this, nearly full genome amplification, sequencing and analysis was conducted.

Methodology/principal Findings: Virion RNA from sera collected in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were reverse transcribed, PCR amplified, sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed.

Protocol for nearly full-length sequencing of HIV-1 RNA from plasma.

Nearly full-length genome sequencing of HIV-1 using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) DNA as a template for PCR is now a relatively routine laboratory procedure. However, this has not been the case when using virion RNA as the template and this has made full genome analysis of circulating viruses difficult. Therefore, a well-developed procedure for sequencing of full-length HIV-1 RNA directly from plasma was needed.