Health and economic effects of introducing single-dose or two-dose human papillomavirus vaccination in India.

Background: Cervical cancer is a major public health problem in India, where access to prevention programmes is low. The WHO-Strategic Advisory Group of Experts recently updated their recommendation for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to include a single-dose option in addition to the two-dose option, which could make HPV vaccination programmes easier to implement and more affordable.

Methods: We combined projections from a type-specific HPV transmission model and a cancer progression model to assess the health and economic effects of HPV vaccination at national and state level in India.

Evidence-based impact projections of single-dose human papillomavirus vaccination in India: a modelling study.

Background: Despite the high burden of cervical cancer, access to preventive measures remains low in India. A single-dose immunisation schedule could facilitate the scale-up of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, contributing to global elimination of cervical cancer. We projected the effect of single-dose quadrivalent HPV vaccination in India in comparison with no vaccination or to a two-dose schedule.

'Know-Can' gap: gap between knowledge and skills related to childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia among frontline workers in rural Uttar Pradesh, India.

Objectives: In India, frontline workers (FLWs) - public accredited social health activists (ASHAs) and private rural medical providers (RMPs) - are important for early detection and treatment of childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. This cross-sectional study aims to measure knowledge and skills, and the gap between the two ('know-can' gap), regarding assessment of childhood diarrhoea with dehydration and pneumonia among FLWs, and to explore factors associated with them.

Methods: We surveyed 473 ASHAs and 447 RMPs in six districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Cell Phone Counseling Improves Retention of Mothers With HIV Infection in Care and Infant HIV Testing in Kisumu, Kenya: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Background: We evaluated the effectiveness of a cell phone counseling intervention to promote retention in care and HIV testing of infants among women with HIV accessing prevention of mother-to-child services in Kisumu, Kenya.

Methods: Between May 2013 and September 2015, we recruited 404 pregnant women with HIV who were between 14 and 36 weeks of gestation and randomly assigned them to the intervention (n=207) or control arm (n=197). Retention was assessed at delivery and at 6 and 14 weeks postpartum.

Women and substance use: a qualitative study on sexual and reproductive health of women who use drugs in Delhi, India.

Objectives: To explore contextual factors that increase vulnerabilities to negative sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes and possible differences in SRH-related behaviours and the needs of women who use drugs (WUD) through non-injecting and injecting routes.

Design: Qualitative study design using semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Participants: Twenty women who injected drugs in the past 3 months and 28 women who reported using drugs through non-injecting routes in the past 1 month.

Service utilization and cost of implementing a comprehensive HIV prevention and care program among people who inject drugs in Delhi, India.

Background: WHO, UNODC, and UNAIDS recommend a comprehensive package for prevention, treatment, and care of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID). We describe the uptake of services and the cost of implementing a comprehensive package for HIV prevention, treatment, and care services in Delhi, India.

Methods: A cohort of 3774 PWID were enrolled for a prospective HIV incidence study and provided the comprehensive package: HIV and hepatitis testing and counseling, hepatitis B (HB) vaccination, syndromic management of sexually transmitted infections, clean needles-syringes, condoms, abscess care, and education.

HIV, Hepatitis B and C among people who inject drugs: high prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C RNA positive infections observed in Delhi, India.

Background: India has large PWID (persons who inject drugs) population estimated at 177,000. PWIDs are at high risk for HIV, Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections. We report the prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV infections and correlates of HIV-HCV co-infection among male PWIDs in Delhi.

'Women at risk': the health and social vulnerabilities of the regular female partners of men who inject drugs in Delhi, India.

Needle and syringe sharing is common among people who inject drugs and so is unprotected sex, which consequently puts their sex partners at risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and other blood-borne infections, like hepatitis. We undertook a nested study with the regular female partners of men who inject drugs participating in a longitudinal HIV incidence study in Delhi, India. In-depth interviews were conducted with female partners of 32 men.

High HIV incidence in a cohort of male injection drug users in Delhi, India.

Background: India has an estimated 177,000 injection drug users (IDU) with a national HIV prevalence of 7.14%. Reliable estimates of HIV incidence are not available for this population.