Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on HIV Testing Uptake Among Key Populations Enrolled in Targeted Intervention Program in Maharashtra, India.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to HIV services globally. We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the uptake of HIV testing in the Targeted Intervention (TI) program in Maharashtra-a high HIV burden state in India. Annual HIV testing was sustained during the pandemic year (2020-2021), at levels similar to the pre-pandemic year (2019-2020), among Female Sex Workers (FSW), Men having Sex with Men (MSM), Transgender (TG), and Truckers; but not among Migrants and Intravenous Drug Users (IDU).

Understanding Emergent Dynamism of Covid-19 Pandemic in a City.

Predicting the evolution of a pandemic requires precise understanding of the pathogen and disease progression, the susceptible population group, means of transmission, and possible control mechanisms. It has been a significant challenge as Covid-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2 family) is not well understood yet; the entire human population is susceptible, and the virus transmits easily through airborne particles. Given its size and connectedness, it is not feasible to test the entire population and to isolate the infected individuals.

Love, sex, and commitment: relationship choices and trajectories among unmarried youth in India.

There is limited research in India to understand young people's decision-making processes about intimate relationships before marriage. This paper, adopting a life course perspective, explains relationship choices and diachronic trajectories of relationships from adolescence to young adulthood. Retrospective data were collected from 1240 never married 20-29-year-old men and women living in Pune using a relationships history calendar.

Mapping HIV risk trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood: a life-course study among unmarried urban Indian youth.

The study explores trajectories of HIV risks from adolescence to adulthood among unmarried, educated (12+ years of formal education), 20-29 year old youth. Retrospective time event data (n=517) was used to build HIV risk trajectories (age 10 onwards), employing group-based trajectory technique and multinomial logistic regression in SAS v9.4.

An Agent-Based Digital Twin for Exploring Localized Non-pharmaceutical Interventions to Control COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 epidemic created, at the time of writing the paper, highly unusual and uncertain socio-economic conditions. The world economy was severely impacted and business-as-usual activities severely disrupted. The situation presented the necessity to make a trade-off between individual health and safety on one hand and socio-economic progress on the other.

The use of emergency contraceptive pills in India: A meta-analysis.

Background: Unplanned pregnancies are a major public health concern. In India, 33% of an estimated 48.1 million pregnancies end in induced abortions.

Increasing sero-discordancy among young HIV infected pregnant women from India: a likely pointer of changing transmission dynamics.

The flat-lining of HIV incidence in India has raised concerns about the presence of emerging risk groups. As HIV prevalence among pregnant women is reflective of the situation in general population, its closer scrutiny provides valuable insights about the evolving epidemic. The present study assesses temporal trends of sero-discordance (where woman is HIV infected and husband is uninfected), among pregnant women living with HIV (pWLHIV) from India.

Neurosymptomatic cerebrospinal fluid escape in HIV-2: a case report.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) escape phenomenon is widely studied and documented in HIV-1. However, hardly anything is known about progressive neurologic disease in otherwise well-controlled HIV-2 infection. We present a case of neurosymptomatic CSF escape in HIV-2 infection from India.

"Now What?" to "So What!": Journey with Perinatally HIV Infected Adolescents Transitioning to Adulthood.

Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) struggle with questions pertaining to their future; contemplating "Now what?" The authors, a nongovernmental organization from India, designed residential workshops for ALHIV to provide them the space to share concerns and draw support from peers. This increased their self-belief and agency, induced voluntarism, and resulted in formation of a support group, "So What!" The members volunteered in planning a similar workshop for their peers and also shared their experiences of disclosure in the form of a booklet. Active involvement of ALHIV could be a key strategy to address the needs of ALHIV.

Growth Patterns of HIV Infected Indian Children in Response to ART: A Clinic Based Cohort Study.

Objective: To describe catch-up growth after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among children living with human immunodeficiency virus (CLHIV), attending a private clinic in India.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of data of CLHIV attending Prayas clinic, Pune, India. Height and weight z scores (HAZ, WAZ) were calculated using WHO growth charts.

Pattern of linkage and retention in HIV care continuum among patients attending referral HIV care clinic in private sector in India.

Continued engagement throughout the HIV care continuum, from HIV diagnosis through retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART), is crucial for enhancing impact of HIV care programs. We assessed linkage and retention in HIV care among people living with HIV (PLHIV) enrolled at a private HIV care clinic in Pune, India. Of 1220 patients, 28% delayed linkage after HIV diagnosis with a median delay of 24 months (IQR = 8-43).

Effect of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes: experiences from a PMTCT program in western India.

Previous research regarding the effect of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) on pregnancy outcomes shows conflicting results and is predominantly situated in developed countries. Recently, HAART is rapidly being scaled up in developing countries for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). This study compared adverse pregnancy outcomes among HIV infected women (N=516) who received either HAART (N=192)--mostly without protease inhibitor--or antepartum azidothymidine (AZT) with intrapartum nevirapine (N=324) from January 2008 to March 2012 through a PMTCT program in western India.

Declining HIV prevalence among women attending antenatal care in Pune, India.

A declining prevalence of HIV among young women has been reported by the public sector implementing prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes, sentinel surveillance sites and research institutions in India. However, there are no reports evaluating such trends from the private healthcare sector. This study is a retrospective analysis of data collected by PRAYAS as a part of the PMTCT programme at Sane Guruji Hospital (SGH), a secondary care hospital in Pune, India.