Impact of marital status on risk of HIV in South Africa (2002-2017).

After decades of research, South African women continue to have the highest burden of HIV in the world. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of marital status on HIV using population and community-level data sources. We included data 13,469 and 5682 South African women who participated to South African HIV behavioural surveys in 2002-2012 and 2017, respectively.

Estimating prevalence and incidence of sexually transmitted infections among South African women: Implications of combined impacts of risk factors.

In addition to being the epicentre of the HIV epidemic, South Africa also has the highest burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the world. Therefore, understanding the most influential risk factors of STIs is a research priority. Using the data from 9948 women who resided in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, we estimated the population attributable risk to quantify the combined impacts of the most influential factors on STI diagnosis.

Contraceptives and sexual behaviours in predicting pregnancy rates in HIV prevention trials in South Africa: Past, present and future implications.

Objective: Despite all efforts, high pregnancy rates are often reported in HIV biomedical intervention trials conducted in African countries. We therefore aimed to develop a pregnancy risk scoring algorithm for targeted recruitment and screening strategies among a cohort of women in South Africa.

Methods: The study population was ~ 10,000 women who enrolled in one of the six biomedical intervention trials conducted in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Pregnancy and Infant Outcomes Among Women Using the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring in Early Pregnancy.

Background: Monthly use of the dapivirine vaginal ring has been shown to be safe and effective for HIV-1 prevention in nonpregnant reproductive-aged women. The impact of dapivirine on pregnancy outcomes and infant is not known. We compared pregnancy incidence and outcomes by study arm among HIV-1-uninfected women who became pregnant while participating in MTN-020/ASPIRE.

Experiences in conducting multiple community-based HIV prevention trials among women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Background: South Africa, with its scientific capacity, good infrastructure and high HIV incidence rates, is ideally positioned to conduct large-scale HIV prevention trials. The HIV Prevention Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council conducted four phase III and one phase IIb trials of women-initiated HIV prevention options in KwaZulu-Natal between 2003 and 2009. A total of 7046 women participated, with HIV prevalence between 25% and 45% and HIV incidence ranging from 4.