Factors associated with viral load non-suppression in people living with HIV on ART in Nigeria: cross-sectional analysis from 2017 to 2021.

Objectives: Identify factors (demographic and clinical) associated with a non-suppressed viral load (VL) of people living with HIV (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Nigeria.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sixteen US Agency for International Development supported states in Nigeria.

Optimising courier specimen collection time improves patient access to HIV viral load testing in South Africa.

Background: South Africa uses a courier network for transporting specimens to public laboratories. After the daily collection of specimens from the facility by the courier, patients not yet attended to are unlikely to receive same-day blood draws, potentially inhibiting access to viral load (VL) testing for HIV patients.

Objective: We aimed to design an optimised courier network and assess whether this improves VL testing access.

Applying machine learning and predictive modeling to retention and viral suppression in South African HIV treatment cohorts.

HIV treatment programs face challenges in identifying patients at risk for loss-to-follow-up and uncontrolled viremia. We applied predictive machine learning algorithms to anonymised, patient-level HIV programmatic data from two districts in South Africa, 2016-2018. We developed patient risk scores for two outcomes: (1) visit attendance ≤ 28 days of the next scheduled clinic visit and (2) suppression of the next HIV viral load (VL).

Factors associated with an interruption in treatment of people living with HIV in USAID-supported states in Nigeria: a retrospective study from 2000-2020.

Background: Patient interruption of antiretroviral therapy (ART) continues to limit HIV programs' progress toward epidemic control. Multiple factors have been associated with client interruption in treatment (IIT)- including age, gender, CD4 count, and education level. In this paper, we explore the factors associated with IIT in people living with HIV (PLHIV) in United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported facilities under the U.

Cost-effectiveness of adoption strategies for point of care HIV viral load monitoring in South Africa.

Background: Viral load (VL) testing is recommended for monitoring people on ART. The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in South Africa conducts >5million laboratory-based VL tests but faces challenges with specimen integrity and results delivery. Point-of-care (POC) VL monitoring may improve VL suppression (VLS).

Monitoring viral load for the last mile: what will it cost?

Introduction: Routine viral load testing is the WHO-recommended method for monitoring HIV-infected patients on ART, and many countries are rapidly scaling up testing capacity at centralized laboratories. Providing testing access to the most remote populations and facilities (the "last mile") is especially challenging. Using a geospatial optimization model, we estimated the incremental costs of accessing the most remote 20% of patients in Zambia by expanding the transportation network required to bring blood samples from ART clinics to centralized laboratories and return results to clinics.

Optimizing viral load testing access for the last mile: Geospatial cost model for point of care instrument placement.

Introduction: Viral load (VL) monitoring programs have been scaled up rapidly, but are now facing the challenge of providing access to the most remote facilities (the "last mile"). For the hardest-to-reach facilities in Zambia, we compared the cost of placing point of care (POC) viral load instruments at or near facilities to the cost of an expanded sample transportation network (STN) to deliver samples to centralized laboratories.

Methods: We extended a previously described geospatial model for Zambia that first optimized a STN for centralized laboratories for 90% of estimated viral load volumes.

Impact of a borderless sample transport network for scaling up viral load monitoring: results of a geospatial optimization model for Zambia.

Introduction: The World Health Organization recommends viral load (VL) monitoring at six and twelve months and then annually after initiating antiretroviral treatment for HIV. In many African countries, expansion of VL testing has been slow due to a lack of efficient blood sample transportation networks (STN). To assist Zambia in scaling up testing capacity, we modelled an optimal STN to minimize the cost of a national VL STN.

The prevalence of bifid iliopsoas tendon on MRI in children.

Objective: The variation in the anatomy of the iliopsoas tendon is important information for orthopaedic surgeons operating around the hip. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of bifid iliopsoas tendons in children on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: MRI hip and pelvis images of 50 sequential children aged 7-15 years were retrieved from our radiology database at the Evelina London Children's Hospital from 2007 to 2013.