Stabilizing HIV prevalence masks high HIV incidence rates amongst rural and urban women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Background: In mature generalized human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics, as survival from accessing antiretroviral treatment (ART) increases, HIV prevalence data may be suboptimal and difficult to interpret without HIV incidence rates.

Objective: To determine the HIV incidence rate among rural and urban women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study from March 2004 to May 2007.

High prevalence of abnormal Pap smears among young women co-infected with HIV in rural South Africa - implications for cervical cancer screening policies in high HIV prevalence populations.

Objective: To establish the relationship between HIV infection and cervical dysplasia in young women in rural South Africa.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a primary health care clinic in Vulindlela, KwaZulu- Natal. Standardised questionnaires were used to collect sociodemographic and clinical presentation data from women attending family planning and other reproductive health services.

Direct questioning of genital symptoms: increasing opportunities for identifying and treating sexually transmitted infections in primary health-care settings.

We investigated the validity of self-reporting of genital symptoms amongst rural women attending primary health care clinics in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Random samples of 226 women were interviewed to measure self-reporting (unprompted), prompted and pelvic examination findings of genital symptoms. Against the presence of any STI self-reporting (unprompted) of symptoms had a sensitivity of 46.