Advancing Sustainable HIV Services Through Integration in Primary Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Perspective on Practical Recommendations.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear a disproportionate burden of the global HIV epidemic. Integrating HIV services into primary healthcare is a crucial strategy to accelerate progress towards ending the epidemic. However, several challenges hinder effective integration, including underfunding, human resource shortages, infrastructure limitations, weak health systems, and sociocultural factors.

Evolving Landscape of Sickle Cell Anemia Management in Africa: A Critical Review.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a prevalent inherited blood disorder, particularly affecting populations in Africa. This review examined the disease's burden, its diverse clinical presentations, and the challenges associated with its management in African settings. Africa bears a significant burden of SCD, with prevalence varying across countries and age groups.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and migration in southern Africa: A rapid review.

Migration, a prevalent global phenomenon, significantly impacts health, particularly in low- to middle-income countries. This article presents a rapid review aimed at mapping projects, lessons and policies concerning sexual and reproductive health (SRH), HIV and migration in southern Africa. Utilising a population-concept-context framework, the review focuses on understanding the scope, nature and extent of interventions, identifying lessons learnt, and assessing existing policies and strategies.

Closing the equity gap: A call for policy and programmatic reforms to ensure inclusive and effective HIV prevention, treatment and care for persons with disabilities in Eastern and Southern Africa.

In this paper, we explore the critical barriers that persons with disabilities face in accessing HIV services in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, despite significant advancements in overall accessibility. We highlight the intersectional challenges experienced by individuals with disabilities, particularly women, and outline a comprehensive approach to bridge the existing gaps in policy and programmatic efforts. Specifically, we aim to address the exclusion of persons with disabilities from essential HIV prevention, treatment, and care services, a situation that has profound implications for their health, social inclusion, and economic productivity.

Postpartum Women's Experiences of Postnatal Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

Background: Postnatal care (PNC) is a critical service for the health and well-being of new mothers and newborns. However, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), most efforts to improve maternal and child health have been directed toward enhancing skilled birth attendance and urgent obstetric and neonatal care. This is despite the fact that more than half of maternal deaths globally occur in the postnatal period, with 65% of these occurring in the first week following birth.

High-resolution spatio-temporal risk mapping for malaria in Namibia: a comprehensive analysis.

Background: Namibia, a low malaria transmission country targeting elimination, has made substantial progress in reducing malaria burden through improved case management, widespread indoor residual spraying and distribution of insecticidal nets. The country's diverse landscape includes regions with varying population densities and geographical niches, with the north of the country prone to periodic outbreaks. As Namibia approaches elimination, malaria transmission has clustered into distinct foci, the identification of which is essential for deployment of targeted interventions to attain the southern Africa Elimination Eight Initiative targets by 2030.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene-specific risk factors of recent diarrheal episodes in children aged under 5 years: analysis of secondary data from the multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS 2019).

Objectives: Access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, collectively called WASH, is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of public health. However, inadequate WASH practices and environments significantly contribute to the global burden of diarrheal diseases, particularly, in children aged under 5 years. Inadequate WASH conditions are the primary drivers of various infectious diseases, including cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio.

Human papilloma virus vaccination in the resource-limited settings of sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and recommendations.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause 99% of all cervical cancer cases globally, with the high-risk genotypes 16 and 18 causing at least 70% of these cases. An estimated 90% of the global cervical cancer burden occurs in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Primary prevention through the administration of efficacious HPV vaccines is key to the World Health Organization's global strategy for accelerating the elimination of cervical cancer as a disease of public health concern.

A critical review of mpox outbreaks, risk factors, and prevention efforts in Africa: lessons learned and evolving practices.

Objectives: In recent years, mpox, a zoonotic disease caused by the mpox virus, has transcended its primary association with Central and West Africa, emerging as a global public health concern. The virus poses a substantial threat, particularly, to vulnerable demographics such as young children and individuals with compromised immune systems. This critical literature review aimed to comprehensively evaluate the burden, risk factors, and current management strategies associated with mpox in Africa.

Using machine learning models to plan HIV services: Emerging opportunities in design, implementation and evaluation.

HIV/AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health and economic challenges, with approximately 36 million people currently living with the disease. Considerable progress has been made to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in the past years through successful multiple HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment interventions. However, barriers such as lack of engagement, limited availability of early HIV-infection detection tools, high rates of HIV/sexually transmitted infections (STIs), barriers to access antiretroviral therapy, lack of innovative resource optimisation and distribution strategies, and poor prevention services for vulnerable populations still exist and substantially affect the attainment of the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets.

The impact of DNA tumor viruses in low-to-middle income countries (LMICS): A literature review.

DNA viruses are common in the human population and act as aetiological agents of cancer on a large scale globally. They include the human papillomaviruses (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), hepatitis viruses, and human polyomaviruses. Oncogenic viruses employ different mechanisms to induce cancer.

Predicting sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men in Zimbabwe using deep learning and ensemble machine learning models.

There is a substantial increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who have sex with men (MSM) globally. Unprotected sexual practices, multiple sex partners, criminalization, stigmatisation, fear of discrimination, substance use, poor access to care, and lack of early STI screening tools are among the contributing factors. Therefore, this study applied multilayer perceptron (MLP), extremely randomized trees (ExtraTrees) and XGBoost machine learning models to predict STIs among MSM using bio-behavioural survey (BBS) data in Zimbabwe.

Expanding technical assistance: a call for a more nuanced approach for sustainable HIV programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

An anticipated decline in external funding in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) necessitates a re-evaluation of HIV response sustainability strategies. While institutional capacity building (ICB) has yielded positive outcomes, including strengthened technical expertise and institutional frameworks, it faces challenges. These include overemphasis on technical expertise neglecting resource mobilization, and a limited focus on policy advocacy.

Empowering underprivileged students beyond financial aid: Insights from a scholarship program's monitoring and evaluation.

Purpose: This paper examines the impact of a scholarship program on underprivileged students, drawing on data from a two-year monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process. The report identifies both enablers and barriers to academic success among scholarship beneficiaries.

Methods: Data on program impact was collected through interviews with parents, teachers, and school records over two academic years.

Men's involvement in maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of enablers and barriers.

Background: Globally, there are about 800 maternal deaths every day, with low-to-middle-income countries accounting for most of these deaths. A lack of access to maternal healthcare services is one of the main causes of these deaths. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), one of the barriers to accessing maternal healthcare services by women is a lack of their male partners' involvement.

COVID-19 and mental health services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A critical literature review.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought a profound impact on mental health in Sub- Saharan Africa, exacerbating existing disparities and rendering individuals undergoing treatment particularly susceptible. This comprehensive critical review delves into the scope, nature, and extent of COVID-19 impact on mental health services in Sub- Saharan Africa, while concurrently elucidating pivotal lessons and exemplary practices learnt from periods of lockdown.

Methods: The methodology was guided by Jesson & Laccy's guide on how to conduct critical literature reviews.

Health effects of climate change in Africa: A call for an improved implementation of prevention measures.

The world's climate, particularly in Africa, has changed substantially during the past few decades, contributed by several human activities. Africa is one of the continents that is most vulnerable to climate change globally. Since the beginning of 2022, extreme weather events in Africa have affected about 19 million people and killed at least 4,000 individuals.

Making every baby count - An urgent reproductive health priority as sub-Saharan Africa continues to witness a high incidence of stillbirths.

The expected culmination of a positive pregnancy experience is a healthy mother and a bouncing live baby. Unfortunately, globally an estimated 2 million babies are still born every year, with the largest incidence of stillbirths of about 50% of the global burden occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Significant gaps in access to quality antenatal care (ANC) and labour and delivery remain in SSA.