Triangulating Truth and Reaching Consensus on Population Size, Prevalence, and More: Modeling Study.

Background: Population size, prevalence, and incidence are essential metrics that influence public health programming and policy. However, stakeholders are frequently tasked with setting performance targets, reporting global indicators, and designing policies based on multiple (often incongruous) estimates of these variables, and they often do so in the absence of a formal, transparent framework for reaching a consensus estimate.

Objective: This study aims to describe a model to synthesize multiple study estimates while incorporating stakeholder knowledge, introduce an R Shiny app to implement the model, and demonstrate the model and app using real data.

Modeling of networked populations when data is sampled or missing.

Networked populations consist of inhomogeneous individuals connected via relational ties. The individuals typically vary in multivariate attributes. In some cases primary interest focuses on individual attributes and in others the understanding of the social structure of the ties.

The HIV care continuum for sexually active transgender women in three metropolitan municipalities in South Africa: findings from a biobehavioural survey 2018-19.

Background: Despite high HIV prevalence in transgender women in sub-Saharan Africa, to our knowledge no study presents data across the HIV care continuum for this population in the region. The aim of this study was to estimate HIV prevalence and present data to develop the HIV care continuum indicators for transgender women in three South African metropolitan municipalities.

Methods: Biobehavioural survey data were collected among sexually active transgender women in the metropolitan municipalities of Johannesburg, Buffalo City, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Improving Biomarker-based HIV Incidence Estimation in the Treatment Era.

Background: Estimating HIV-1 incidence using biomarker assays in cross-sectional surveys is important for understanding the HIV pandemic. However, the utility of these estimates has been limited by uncertainty about what input parameters to use for false recency rate (FRR) and mean duration of recent infection (MDRI) after applying a recent infection testing algorithm (RITA).

Methods: This article shows how testing and diagnosis reduce both FRR and mean duration of recent infection compared to a treatment-naive population.

Estimation of HIV-1 Incidence Using a Testing History-Based Method; Analysis From the Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Survey Data in 12 African Countries.

Background: Estimating HIV incidence is essential to monitoring progress in sub-Saharan African nations toward global epidemic control. One method for incidence estimation is to test nationally representative samples using laboratory-based incidence assays. An alternative method based on reported HIV testing history and the proportion of undiagnosed infections has recently been described.