Simple and easy to use kits for SARS-Cov-2 self-testing during epidemic waves are needed to optimize diagnostic capacity in low- and middle-income countries. SARS-Cov-2 self-testing kits are available, but application of these novel diagnostic technologies is less understood in low and middle-income contexts. We investigated the ability to understand and perform instructions for use (IFUs) for STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test (SD Biosensor) and Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device (Abbott Rapid Diagnostics) for anterior nares (AN) nasal self-sampling and self-testing for COVID-19 in rural and urban Malawi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Int AIDS Soc
July 2024
Introduction: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in infants living with HIV before 12 weeks of age can reduce the risk of mortality by 75%. Point-of-care (POC) diagnostic testing is critical for prompt ART initiation; however, despite its availability, rates of ART initiation are still relatively low before 12 weeks of age. This systematic review describes the barriers to ART initiation in infants before 12 weeks of age, despite the availability of POC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: HIV-related internalized stigma remains a major contributor to challenges experienced when accessing and providing HIV diagnosis, care and treatment services. It is a key barrier to effective prevention, treatment and care programs. This study investigated experiences of internalized stigma among people living with HIV in Malawi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly infant diagnosis of HIV (EID-HIV) is key to reducing paediatric HIV mortality. Traditional approaches for diagnosing HIV in exposed infants are usually unable to optimally contribute to EID. Point-of-care testing such as Cepheid Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay-1 (XPertHIV) are available and could improve EID-HIV in resource constrained and high HIV burden contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis (TB) is treatable but is the leading infectious cause of death worldwide, with men over-represented in some key aspects of the disease burden. Men's TB epidemiological scenario occurs within a wider public health and historical context, including their prior sidelining in health discussions. Differences are however noticeable in how some Western countries and high TB and HIV burden low and middle-income countries (LMIC) including in Africa have approached the subject(s) of men and health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Mandatory face-to-face counselling is necessary during HIV testing but difficult to implement within the context of HIV self-testing. We investigated adverse psychological effects and coping mechanisms following HIV-positive and HIV-discordant test results amongst self-tested individuals living in couples in urban Blantyre, Malawi.
Methods: Qualitative data from 35 in-depth interviews with self-tested individuals living in couples for more than 3 months were collected and analysed using thematic content analysis.
Building trust between researchers and communities involved in research is one goal of community engagement. This paper examines the implications of community engagement for trust within communities, including trust among community volunteers who assist with research and between these volunteers and other community members. We describe the experiences of two groups of community volunteers recruited as part of an HIV and TB intervention trial in Malawi: cluster representatives, recruited both to act as key informants for TB suspects and mortality reporting and to identify and report community concerns, and community counsellors, recruited to provide semi-supervised HIV self-testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA community-based HIV self-testing study in Blantyre, Malawi demonstrated that not all individuals living in couples tested with their partner. We describe factors dissuading individuals in couples from self-testing with their partner. Data were drawn from qualitative study exploring consequences of HIV self-testing within couples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In the era of ambitious HIV targets, novel HIV testing models are required for hard-to-reach groups such as men, who remain underserved by existing services. Pregnancy presents a unique opportunity for partners to test for HIV, as many pregnant women will attend antenatal care (ANC). We describe the views of pregnant women and their male partners on HIV self-test kits that are woman-delivered, alone or with an additional intervention.
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