Correction to: The potential impact of a "curative intervention" for HIV: a modelling study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41256-019-0107-1.].

Responding to the ECHO trial results: modelling the potential impact of changing contraceptive method mix on HIV and reproductive health in South Africa.

Introduction: Some observational data suggest that the progestogen injectable contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) may increase a woman's risk of HIV acquisition but a randomized clinical trial did not find a statistically significant increase in HIV risk for women using DMPA compared to two other methods. However, it could not rule out up to 30% increased HIV risk for DMPA users. We evaluate changes to contraceptive method mix in South Africa under different assumptions about the existence and strength of a possible undetected relationship between DMPA use and HIV risk.

What impact could DMPA use have had in South Africa and how might its continued use affect the future of the HIV epidemic?

Introduction: Some studies suggest that use of the injectable contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) may increase susceptibility to HIV infection. We aim to determine the influence that such an association could have had on the HIV epidemic in South Africa.

Methods: We simulate the heterosexual adult HIV epidemic in South Africa using a compartmental model stratified by age, behavioural risk group, sex, male circumcision status and contraceptive use.

The potential impact of a "curative intervention" for HIV: a modelling study.

Background: Efforts to develop an HIV "cure" (i.e., an intervention leading to durable ART-free remission or eradication of HIV infection) have become better resourced and coordinated in recent years.

The emerging health impact of voluntary medical male circumcision in Zimbabwe: An evaluation using three epidemiological models.

Background: Zimbabwe adopted voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) as a priority HIV prevention strategy in 2007 and began implementation in 2009. We evaluated the costs and impact of this VMMC program to date and in future.

Methods: Three mathematical models describing Zimbabwe's HIV epidemic and program evolution were calibrated to household survey data on prevalence and risk behaviors, with circumcision coverage calibrated to program-reported VMMCs.

An infectious way to teach students about outbreaks.

The study of infectious disease outbreaks is required to train today's epidemiologists. A typical way to introduce and explain key epidemiological concepts is through the analysis of a historical outbreak. There are, however, few training options that explicitly utilise real-time simulated stochastic outbreaks where the participants themselves comprise the dataset they subsequently analyse.