Output from the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network international postdoctoral fellowship for capacity building in HIV clinical trials.

As a response to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic and part of Canadian Institutes for Health Research's mandate to support international health research capacity building, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Canadian HIV Trial Network (CTN) developed an international postdoctoral fellowship award under the CTN's Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards Program to support and train young HIV researchers in resource-limited settings. Since 2010, the fellowship has been awarded to eight fellows in Cameroon, China, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. These fellows have conducted research on a wide variety of topics and have built a strong network of collaboration and scientific productivity, with 40 peer-reviewed publications produced by six fellows during their fellowships.

Role of community-level factors across the treatment cascade: a critical review.

Addressing community-level factors (CLFs) is integral to the ongoing effort to design multilevel, effective, and sustainable interventions to address each element of the HIV/AIDS treatment cascade. This review, the first critical review of this topic, identified 100 articles that (1) assessed CLFs in relation to the HIV/AIDS treatment cascade, (2) had been peer-reviewed, and (3) were based on studies conducted in low- or middle-income countries. Social support and social networks, cultural norms, gender norms, and stigma were the key CLFs associated with treatment and care.

Community views of inter-generational sex: findings from focus groups in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland.

Inter-generational sex is an important driver of the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa, contributing to the high incidence of HIV among young women. We conducted 12 focus group discussions with women aged 15-24 years and 11 with men aged 40-55 years in urban and rural locations in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. There was consensus that inter-generational sex is commonplace.