Characteristics and outcomes of older HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in Malawi: A retrospective observation cohort study.

Objective: To estimate patients enrolling on antiretroviral therapy (ART) over time; describe trends in baseline characteristics; and compare immunological response, loss to follow-up (LTFU), and mortality by three age groups (25-39, 40-49 and ≥50 years).

Design: A retrospective observation cohort study.

Methods: This study used routine ART data from two public clinics in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Moving beyond the "male perpetrator, female victim" discourse in addressing sex and relationships for HIV prevention: peer research in Eastern Zambia.

Despite the resources put into HIV education programmes with young people in sub-Saharan Africa in the past two decades, there is little clear evidence of impact. Many programmes continue to be oriented towards individual behaviour change (and in reality, often sexual abstinence) with insufficient focus on understanding how societies constrain or enable individual agency in sexual decision-making and how this is affected by social norms. If education programmes do address gender they often reinforce a "male perpetrator, female victim" discourse, where girls and women are held responsible for boys' and men's sexuality as well as their own.

Comparison of treatment outcomes of new smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients by HIV and antiretroviral status in a TB/HIV clinic, Malawi.

Background: Smear-positive pulmonary TB is the most infectious form of TB. Previous studies on the effect of HIV and antiretroviral therapy on TB treatment outcomes among these highly infectious patients demonstrated conflicting results, reducing understanding of important issues.

Methods: All adult smear-positive pulmonary TB patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2010 in Malawi's largest public, integrated TB/HIV clinic were included in the study to assess treatment outcomes by HIV and antiretroviral therapy status using logistic regression.