Publications by authors named "Shengruo Zhang"
Background: Despite their ubiquity across sub-Saharan Africa, private pharmacies are underutilized for HIV service delivery beyond the sale of HIV self-test kits. To understand what uptake of HIV prevention and treatment services might look like if private pharmacies offered clients free HIV self-testing and referral to clinic-based HIV services, we conducted a pilot study in Kenya.
Methods: At 20 private pharmacies in Kisumu County, Kenya, pharmacy clients (≥ 18 years) purchasing sexual health-related products (e.
Introduction: HIV self-testing (HIVST) is highly sensitive and specific, addresses known barriers to HIV testing (such as stigma), and is recommended by the World Health Organization as a testing option for the delivery of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Nevertheless, HIVST remains underutilized as a diagnostic tool in community-based, differentiated HIV service delivery models, possibly due to concerns about result misinterpretation, which could lead to inadvertent onward transmission of HIV, delays in antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, and incorrect initiation on PrEP. Ensuring that HIVST results are accurately interpreted for correct clinical decisions will be critical to maximizing HIVST's potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccine coverage for the human papillomavirus (HPV) remains low globally, and differentiated models of vaccine delivery are needed to expand access. Pharmacy-based models of the HPV vaccination may engage women who could benefit. We assessed the acceptability of such a model among pharmacy clients and providers at 20 private pharmacies in Kisumu County, Kenya.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- HIV self-testing (HIVST) could enhance oral PrEP delivery in private pharmacies, but guidelines in many countries, including Kenya, have not fully endorsed it despite local pharmacy providers being allowed to offer HIVST.
- A study at 20 pharmacies in Kisumu County trained providers to assist clients with HIVST and compared its performance against standard rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) conducted by certified counsellors.
- Results showed that between March and June 2022, out of 1,500 enrolled clients, provider-delivered HIVST had high sensitivity (98.5%) and accuracy, suggesting it could be a viable option for supporting PrEP scale-up in the region.
Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) contribute to adverse health outcomes in adulthood. Access to preventive health care services, including genital human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations, may mitigate the impact of ACEs on adverse health outcomes. Our objective was to assess associations between ACEs and HPV vaccination coverage among young adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Few studies have meta-analyzed different prognostic models developed for older adults, especially nursing home residents. We aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the performance of all published models that predicted all-cause mortality among older nursing home residents.
Methods: We systematically searched PubMed and EMBASE from the databases' inception to January 1, 2020 to capture studies developing and/or validating a prognostic/prediction model for all-cause mortality among nursing home residents.