Institutionalizing Innovation: From Pilot to Scale for Co-Packaged Oral Rehydration Salts and Zinc-A Case Study in Zambia.

We document the development and institutionalization in Zambia of a health innovation for diarrhea treatment aimed at children aged younger than 5 years: a unique oral rehydration salts and zinc (ORSZ) co-pack. Seven recommendations from the World Health Organization/ExpandNet are used retrospectively to analyze and describe the successful scale-up of this innovation from its concept stage, including in-country expansion and policy, institutional, and regulatory changes. The 7 recommendations comprise using a participatory process, tailoring to the country context, designing research to test the innovation, testing the innovation, identifying success factors, and scaling up.

Fostering Access to PrEP Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women Aged 16 to 24 Years at High Risk of HIV Through the DREAMS Initiative in Four Districts in Zambia.

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa remain at high risk for HIV, yet limited data exist on implementation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for this group. We examined PrEP uptake among AGYW using a retrospective cohort enrolled in the Determined Resilient Empowered AIDS-free Mentored Safe (DREAMS) initiative in Zambia between October 2020 and March 2022. Consent was obtained from eligible AGYW at substantial risk for HIV, and they voluntarily participated in PrEP.

Genomic Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Seychelles, 2020-2021.

Seychelles, an archipelago of 155 islands in the Indian Ocean, had confirmed 24,788 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the 31st of December 2021. The first SARS-CoV-2 cases in Seychelles were reported on the 14th of March 2020, but cases remained low until January 2021, when a surge was observed. Here, we investigated the potential drivers of the surge by genomic analysis of 1056 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples collected in Seychelles between 14 March 2020 and 31 December 2021.

Prevalence and genotypic characterization of isolates from asymptomatic school-going children in Lusaka, Zambia.

is one of the most common causes of diarrhea in humans with about 250-300 million cases per year. It is considered to be a species complex comprising of eight genetic assemblages (A to H), with assemblages A and B being the major causes of human infections. In this study we carried out genotypic characterization of isolates detected in asymptomatic school-going children aged 3-16 years.

Progress toward HIV epidemic control in Lesotho.

Objective: The Lesotho Population-based HIV Impact Assessment survey was conducted nationally and designed to measure HIV prevalence, incidence, and viral load suppression (VLS).

Design: A nationally representative sample of 9403 eligible households was surveyed between November 2016 and May 2017; analyses account for study design. Consenting participants provided blood samples, socio-demographic, and behavioral information.