"I want one nurse who is friendly to talk to me properly like a friend": Learner preferences for HIV and contraceptive service provision in Gauteng, South Africa.

Background: Research with adolescents indicates that youth aged 15-24 years, especially females, are at high risk for HIV infection. The overall HIV prevalence among youth in this age group was 6.2% estimated in 2022.

Will differentiated care for stable HIV patients reduce healthcare systems costs?

Introduction: South Africa's National Department of Health launched the National Adherence Guidelines for Chronic Diseases in 2015. These guidelines include adherence clubs (AC) and decentralized medication delivery (DMD) as two differentiated models of care for stable HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy. While the adherence guidelines do not suggest that provider costs (costs to the healthcare system for medications, laboratory tests and visits to clinics or alternative locations) for stable patients in these differentiated models of care will be lower than conventional, clinic-based care, recent modelling exercises suggest that such differentiated models could substantially reduce provider costs.

Differentiated HIV care in South Africa: the effect of fast-track treatment initiation counselling on ART initiation and viral suppression as partial results of an impact evaluation on the impact of a package of services to improve HIV treatment adherence.

Introduction: In response to suboptimal adherence and retention, South Africa's National Department of Health developed and implemented National Adherence Guidelines for Chronic Diseases. We evaluated the effect of a package of adherence interventions beginning in January 2016 and report on the impact of Fast-Track Treatment Initiation Counselling (FTIC) on ART initiation, adherence and retention.

Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized mixed-methods evaluation in 4 provinces at 12 intervention sites which implemented FTIC and 12 control facilities providing standard of care.

Assessing the impact of the National Department of Health's National Adherence Guidelines for Chronic Diseases in South Africa using routinely collected data: a cluster-randomised evaluation.

Introduction: In 2016, South Africa's National Department of Health (NDOH) launched the National Adherence Guidelines for Chronic Diseases for phased implementation throughout South Africa. Early implementation of a 'minimum package' of eight interventions in the Adherence Guidelines for patients with HIV is being undertaken at 12 primary health clinics and community health centres in four provinces. NDOH and its partners are evaluating the impact of five of the interventions in four provinces in South Africa.

Poverty, food insufficiency and HIV infection and sexual behaviour among young rural Zimbabwean women.

Background: Despite a recent decline, Zimbabwe still has the fifth highest adult HIV prevalence in the world at 14.7%; 56% of the population are currently living in extreme poverty.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based survey of 18-22 year olds, conducted in 30 communities in south-eastern Zimbabwe in 2007.

'How poor are you?' -- a comparison of four questionnaire delivery modes for assessing socio-economic position in rural zimbabwe.

Background: Assessing socio-economic position can be difficult, particularly in developing countries. Collection of socio-economic data usually relies on interviewer-administered questionnaires, but there is little research exploring how questionnaire delivery mode (QDM) influences reporting of these indicators. This paper reports on results of a trial of four QDMs, and the effect of mode on poverty reporting.

How you ask really matters: randomised comparison of four sexual behaviour questionnaire delivery modes in Zimbabwean youth.

Objective: A sexual health survey among rural Zimbabwean youth was used to compare the validity and reliability of sexual behaviour measures between four questionnaire delivery modes.

Methods: Using a random permuted block design, 1495 youth were randomised to one of four questionnaire delivery modes: self-administered questionnaire (SAQ=373); SAQ accompanied by an audio soundtrack (Audio-SAQ=376); face-to-face interview with sensitive questions placed in a confidential voting box (Informal confidential voting interview; ICVI=365); and audio computer-assisted survey instrument (ACASI=381). Key questions were selected a priori to compare item non-response and rates of reporting of sensitive behaviours between questionnaire delivery modes.

High prevalence of affective disorders among adolescents living in Rural Zimbabwe.

Poor mental health accounts for considerable disease burden among young people globally. We investigated the prevalence and determinants of affective disorders among rural Zimbabwean youth in 2006. We undertook a cross-sectional survey among 1495 Zimbabwean youth aged 15-23 (median 18) from 12 rural communities in three provinces in south-eastern Zimbabwe.

Field evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of an oral fluid rapid test for HIV, tested at point-of-service sites in rural Zimbabwe.

The objective of this study was to validate the use of OraQuick ADVANCE Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody test (OraSure Technologies Inc., Bethlehem, PA) on oral fluid for a population-based HIV prevalence survey of rural youth in southeast Zimbabwe. The evaluation was conducted in patients presenting for voluntary counseling and testing at rural clinics.

The Regai Dzive Shiri Project: a cluster randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of a multi-component community-based HIV prevention intervention for rural youth in Zimbabwe--study design and baseline results.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a community-based HIV prevention intervention for adolescents in terms of its impact on (1) HIV and Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) incidence and on rates of unintended pregnancy and (2) reported sexual behaviour, knowledge and attitudes.

Methods: Cluster randomised trial of a multi-component HIV prevention intervention for adolescents based in rural Zimbabwe. Thirty communities were selected and randomised in 2003 to early or deferred intervention implementation.

Association of genital shedding of herpes simplex virus type 2 and HIV-1 among sex workers in rural Zimbabwe.

Introduction: Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) facilitates sexual acquisition of HIV-1 but data on transmission are less clear. In this study the interaction between genital shedding of HIV-1 and HSV-2 was explored among Zimbabwean sex workers.

Methods: Women (n = 214) were interviewed about genital symptoms.