Cost- effectiveness of a simplified acute malnutrition program: a secondary analysis of the OptiMA randomized clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Acute malnutrition (AM) causes large loss of life and disability in children in Africa. Researchers are testing innovative approaches to increase efficiency of treatment programs. This paper presents results of a cost-effectiveness analysis of one such program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) based on a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial Optimizing Treatment for Acute Malnutrition (OptiMA), conducted in DRC in 2018-20.

Global burden and trends of rotavirus infection-associated deaths from 1990 to 2019: an observational trend study.

Background: Rotavirus is the leading global pathogen of diarrhea-associated mortality and poses a great threat to public health in all age groups. This study aimed to explore the global burden and 30-year change patterns of rotavirus infection-associated deaths.

Methods: Based on the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study (GBD 2019), we analyzed the age-standardized death rate (ASDR) of rotavirus infection by sex, geographical region, and sociodemographic index (SDI) from 1990 to 2019.

Global Burden and Trends of Norovirus-Associated Diseases From 1990 to 2019: An Observational Trend Study.

Introduction: As an important pathogen causing diarrheal diseases, the burden and change in the death rate of norovirus-associated diseases (NADs) globally are still unknown.

Methods: Based on global disease burden data from 1990 to 2019, we analyzed the age-standardized death rate (ASDR) of NADs by age, region, country, and Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) level. The discrete Poisson model was applied in the analysis of NADs' spatiotemporal aggregation, the Joinpoint regression model to analyze the trend of death burden of NADs over 30 years, and a generalized linear model to identify the risk factors for the death rate from NADs.

Utilization patterns, outcomes and costs of a simplified acute malnutrition treatment programme in Burkina Faso.

Access to treatment for acute malnutrition remains a challenge, in part due to the fragmentation of treatment programmes based on case severity. This paper evaluates utilization patterns, outcomes and associated costs for treating acute malnutrition cases among a cohort of children in Burkina Faso. This study is a secondary analysis of a proof-of-concept trial, called Optimizing treatment for acute Malnutrition (OptiMA), conducted in Burkina Faso in 2016.

Costs of Implementing an Integrated Package of Maternal and Pediatric Interventions Including SQ-LNS in Rural Niger.

Background: In January 2015, the Alliance for International Medical Action and Bien Être de la Femme et de l'Enfant au Niger launched the 1000 Days Program in Mirriah District, Niger, to provide an integrated package of maternal and pediatric preventive and curative interventions. A new component of the package was the provision of small-quantity lipid-based nutritional supplements (SQ-LNS) for children 6 to 23 months.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the costs associated with providing the 1000 days package.

The epidemiological and radiographical characteristics of asymptomatic infections with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The role of asymptomatic infections in the transmission of COVID-19 have drawn considerable attention. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to summarize the epidemiological and radiographical characteristics of asymptomatic infections associated with COVID-19.

Methods: Data on the epidemiological and radiographical characteristics of asymptomatic infections were extracted from the existing literature.

Modeling Combination Hepatitis C Virus Treatment and Prevention Strategies in a Network of People Who Inject Drugs in the United States.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment as prevention (TasP) strategies can contribute to HCV microelimination, yet complimentary interventions such as opioid agonist therapies (OAT) with methadone or buprenorphine and syringe services programs (SSPs) may improve the prevention impact. This modeling study estimates the impact of scaling up the combination of OAT and SSPs with HCV TasP in a network of people who inject drugs (PWID) in the United States.

Methods: Using empirical data from Hartford, Connecticut, we deployed a stochastic block model to simulate an injection network of 1574 PWID.

Estimating the Population Size of People Who Inject Drugs in Malaysia for 2014 and 2017 Using the Benchmark-Multiplier Method.

: As hepatitis C elimination efforts are launched, national strategies for screening and treatment scale-up in countries, such as Malaysia, must be designed and implemented. Strategic information, including estimates of the total number of patients chronically-infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the size of key populations, such as people who inject drugs (PWID), is critical to informing these efforts. For Malaysia, the estimate of the PWID population size most frequently reported in global systematic reviews is for the year 2009.

Hepatitis C virus elimination in Indonesia: Epidemiological, cost and cost-effectiveness modelling to advance advocacy and strategic planning.

Backgrounds & Aims: In Indonesia 1.9 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), but a national strategic plan for elimination has not yet been developed, despite the availability of low-cost treatments which could save many lives. We used epidemiological and cost modelling to estimate targets and resource requirements of a national elimination program and explore the potential impact and cost-effectiveness.

Twenty Years Of Antiretroviral Therapy For People Living With HIV: Global Costs, Health Achievements, Economic Benefits.

Since the introduction of azidothymidine in 1987, significant improvements in treatment for people living with HIV have yielded substantial improvements in global health as a result of the unique benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART averted 9.5 million deaths worldwide in 1995-2015, with global economic benefits of $1.

A Stepwise Approach to a National Hepatitis C Screening Strategy in Malaysia to Meet the WHO 2030 Targets: Proposed Strategy, Coverage, and Costs.

Background: In Malaysia, more than 330 000 individuals are estimated to be chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), but less than 2% have been treated to date.

Objectives: To estimate the required coverage and costs of a national screening strategy to inform the launch of an HCV elimination program.

Methods: We designed an HCV screening strategy based on a "stepwise" approach.

The investment case for hepatitis B and C in South Africa: adaptation and innovation in policy analysis for disease program scale-up.

Even though WHO has approved global goals for hepatitis elimination, most countries have yet to establish programs for hepatitis B and C, which account for 320 million infections and over a million deaths annually. One reason for this slow response is the paucity of robust, compelling analyses showing that national HBV/HCV programs could have a significant impact on these epidemics and save lives in a cost-effective, affordable manner. In this context, our team used an investment case approach to develop a national hepatitis action plan for South Africa, grounded in a process of intensive engagement of local stakeholders.

Reaching the global target to reduce stunting: an investment framework.

Childhood stunting, being short for one's age, has life-long consequences for health, human capital and economic growth. Being stunted in early childhood is associated with slower cognitive development, reduced schooling attainment and adult incomes decreased by 5-53%. The World Health Assembly has endorsed global nutrition targets including one to reduce the number of stunted children under five by 40% by 2025.

PrEP for key populations in combination HIV prevention in Nairobi: a mathematical modelling study.

Background: The HIV epidemic in the population of Nairobi as a whole is in decline, but a concentrated sub-epidemic persists in key populations. We aimed to identify an optimal portfolio of interventions to reduce HIV incidence for a given budget and to identify the circumstances in which pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could be used in Nairobi, Kenya.

Methods: A mathematical model was developed to represent HIV transmission in specific key populations (female sex workers, male sex workers, and men who have sex with men [MSM]) and among the wider population of Nairobi.

Funding AIDS programmes in the era of shared responsibility: an analysis of domestic spending in 12 low-income and middle-income countries.

Background: As the incomes of many AIDS-burdened countries grow and donors' budgets for helping to fight the disease tighten, national governments and external funding partners increasingly face the following question: what is the capacity of countries that are highly affected by AIDS to finance their responses from domestic sources, and how might this affect the level of donor support? In this study, we attempt to answer this question.

Methods: We propose metrics to estimate domestic AIDS financing, using methods related to national prioritisation of health spending, disease burden, and economic growth. We apply these metrics to 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, generating scenarios of possible future domestic expenditure.

Overcoming challenges to sustainable immunization financing: early experiences from GAVI graduating countries.

Over the 5-year period ending in 2018, 16 countries with a combined birth cohort of over 6 million infants requiring life-saving immunizations are scheduled to transition (graduate) from outside financial and technical support for a number of their essential vaccines. This support has been provided over the past decade by the GAVI Alliance. Will these 16 countries be able to continue to sustain these vaccination efforts? To address this issue, GAVI and its partners are supporting transition planning, entailing country assessments of readiness to graduate and intensive dialogue with national officials to ensure a smooth transition process.

Induction of labor at 41 weeks of pregnancy among primiparas with an unfavorable Bishop score.

Objective: To determine the rate and factors associated with the successful Induction of Labor (IOL) in nulliparous patients undergoing scheduled IOL at 41 weeks of gestational age (GA) with an unfavorable cervix.

Design: This was a retrospective analysis that included nulliparous patients who presented to the Labor and Delivery unit at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center between 2011 and 2012 for elective IOL at 41 weeks of GA. The Bishop score was assessed upon admission and IOL agents were used in compliance with ACOG guidelines in different combinations, based on the obstetrical team preference.

Maternal body mass index does not affect neonatal umbilical artery blood gas parameters.

This study was undertaken to assess the impact of obesity on fetal well-being in glucose-tolerant and nonhypertensive women. Medical charts of all patients admitted to the labor and delivery department at our institution between January, 2011 and July, 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with diabetes/impaired glucose tolerance or hypertension were excluded.

Financing vaccinations - the South African experience.

South Africa provides a useful country case study for financing vaccinations. It has been an early adopter of new vaccinations and has financed these almost exclusively from domestic resources, largely through general taxation. National vaccination policy is determined by the Department of Health, based on advice from a national advisory group on immunisation.

Economic returns to investment in AIDS treatment in low and middle income countries.

Since the early 2000s, aid organizations and developing country governments have invested heavily in AIDS treatment. By 2010, more than five million people began receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART)--yet each year, 2.7 million people are becoming newly infected and another two million are dying without ever having received treatment.