Feasibility and Acceptability of Cryptococcal Antigen Screening and Prevalence of Cryptocococcemia in Patients Attending a Resource-Limited HIV/AIDS Clinic in Malawi.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends screening patients living with AIDS to detect and treat early cryptococcal infection.

Methods: The authors evaluated a cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) screening and treatment program at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Malawi. Eligible patients were of age >18 years, had a CD4 count <100 cells/µL or WHO clinical HIV/AIDS stage III or IV.

One-year outcomes of women started on antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy before and after the implementation of Option B+ in Malawi: A retrospective chart review.

Objective: To compare one-year outcomes of women started on antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy in the pre-Option B+ era to those in the Option B+ era.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at three sites in Malawi. Women were included in the 'pre-Option B+' cohort if they started ART during pregnancy for a CD4 count < 350 cells/mm or WHO 3/4 condition and in the 'Option B+' cohort if they started ART during pregnancy regardless of CD4 count or clinical stage.

Provider attitudes about childbearing and knowledge of safer conception at two HIV clinics in Malawi.

Background: There is limited understanding of health care providers' attitudes towards HIV-infected individuals' reproductive choices, as well as knowledge about safer conception. Our study objective was to explore provider-level factors that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to the provision of reproductive and safer conception services for men and women living with HIV.

Methods: Twenty-five providers were interviewed in four focus group discussions about their attitudes regarding childbearing by HIV-infected clients, reproductive health and HIV knowledge, and views and knowledge of safer conception.

High-risk human papillomavirus in HIV-infected women undergoing cervical cancer screening in Lilongwe, Malawi: a pilot study.

Rates of abnormal visual inspection with acetic acid and prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes have not been well characterized in HIV-infected women in Malawi. We performed a prospective cohort study of visual inspection with acetic acid (N = 440) in HIV-infected women aged 25--59 years, with a nested study of HPV subtypes in first 300 women enrolled. Of 440 women screened, 9.

A qualitative analysis of the barriers and facilitators to receiving care in a prevention of mother-to-child program in Nkhoma, Malawi.

Prior to 2011, uptake of PMTCT in Malawi remained low despite increased access to antiretrovirals. We sought to understand barriers to PMTCT in rural Malawi. Twenty-two HIV-infected pregnant and postpartum women in PMTCT programs were interviewed in Nkhoma, Malawi, between April-May 2010.

Factors associated with desire for children among HIV-infected women and men: a quantitative and qualitative analysis from Malawi and implications for the delivery of safer conception counseling.

Improved health outcomes have resulted in people with HIV facing decisions about childbearing. We sought to understand the factors associated with desire for a child among men and women in Malawi. HIV-infected men and women ages 18-40 were invited to participate in a brief interview about fertility desires.