Private Providers' Experiences Implementing a Package of Interventions to Improve Quality of Care in Kenya: Findings From a Qualitative Evaluation.

Introduction: Quality of care is an important element in health care service delivery in low- and middle-income countries. Innovative strategies are critical to ensure that private providers implement quality of care interventions. We explored private providers' experiences implementing a package of interventions intended to improve the quality of care in small and medium-sized private health facilities in Kenya.

Effectiveness of a Lay Counselor-Led Combination Intervention for Retention of Mothers and Infants in HIV Care: A Randomized Trial in Kenya.

Background: Retention of mothers and infants across the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) continuum remains challenging. We assessed the effectiveness of a lay worker administered combination intervention compared with the standard of care (SOC) on mother-infant attrition.

Methods: HIV-positive pregnant women starting antenatal care at 10 facilities in western Kenya were randomized using simple randomization to receive individualized health education, retention/adherence support, appointment reminders, and missed visit tracking vs.

Lay health worker experiences administering a multi-level combination intervention to improve PMTCT retention.

Background: The recent scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services has rapidly accelerated antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake among pregnant and postpartum women in sub-Saharan Africa. The Mother and Infant Retention for Health (MIR4Health) study evaluates the impact of a combination intervention administered by trained lay health workers to decrease attrition among HIV-positive women initiating PMTCT services and their infants through 6 months postpartum.

Methods: This was a qualitative study nested within the MIR4Health trial.

Mother Infant Retention for Health (MIR4Health): Study Design, Adaptations, and Challenges With PMTCT Implementation Science Research.

Background: Effective retention of HIV-infected mothers and their infants is fraught with multiple challenges, resulting in loss across the continuum of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) care and missed opportunities to offer life-saving HIV prevention and treatment.

Methods: The Mother Infant Retention for Health study is an individual-randomized study evaluating the effectiveness of active patient follow-up compared with standard of care on the combined outcome of attrition of HIV-infected women and their infants at 6 months postpartum. Lay counselors administered the active patient follow-up package of interventions, including individualized health education, use of flip charts during clinic visits, and at home, phone and short message service appointment reminders, active phone and physical tracking of patients immediately after missed clinic visits, and individualized retention and adherence support.

Use of AUDIT, and measures of drinking frequency and patterns to detect associations between alcohol and sexual behaviour in male sex workers in Kenya.

Background: Previous research has linked alcohol use with an increased number of sexual partners, inconsistent condom use and a raised incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, alcohol measures have been poorly standardised, with many ill-suited to eliciting, with adequate precision, the relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk behaviour. This study investigates which alcohol indicator--single-item measures of frequency and patterns of drinking ( > = 6 drinks on 1 occasion), or the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)--can detect associations between alcohol use and unsafe sexual behaviour among male sex workers.