Objectives: The coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services in South Africa is variable. Identifying gaps in the implementation of these services is necessary to isolate steps needed to further reduce paediatric infections and eliminate transmission.
Setting: Two primary care clinics in Paarl, South Africa.
Participants: 1225 pregnant women; inclusion criteria were 18 years or older, clinic attendance and remaining in area for at least 1 year.
Methods: Data were collected through the Drakenstein Child Health Study, a population-based birth cohort in a periurban area of the Western Cape, South Africa. A combination of clinic records, hospital records, national database searches and maternal self-report were collected during the study.
Results: Of the 1225 mothers enrolled in the cohort between 2012 and 2015, 260 (21%) were confirmed HIV infected antenatally and 1 mother tested positive in the postnatal period. Of those with documentation (n=250/260, 96%), the majority (99%) received antiretroviral prophylaxis or therapy (ART) before labour; however, there was a high rate of defaulting from ART noted during pregnancy (20%). All HIV-exposed infants with data received antiretroviral prophylaxis, 35% were exclusively breast fed until 6 weeks and 16% for 6 months. There were two cases of infant HIV infection (0.8%) who were initiated on ART but had complicated histories.
Conclusion: Despite the low transmission rate in this cohort, reaching elimination will require further work, and this study illustrates several areas to improve implementation of PMTCT services and reduce paediatric infections including retesting at-risk HIV-negative mothers through the duration of breast feeding, infant HIV testing at any admission in addition to routine testing and improved counselling to prevent defaulting from treatment. Better data surveillance systems are essential for determining the implementation of PMTCT guidelines.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033259 | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
January 2025
Faculty of Engineering, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A3E9, Canada.
Diabetes is a growing health concern in developing countries, causing considerable mortality rates. While machine learning (ML) approaches have been widely used to improve early detection and treatment, several studies have shown low classification accuracies due to overfitting, underfitting, and data noise. This research employs parallel and sequential ensemble ML approaches paired with feature selection techniques to boost classification accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccine
January 2025
Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biological Engineering and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing, China; GuoTai (Taizhou) Center of Technology Innovation for Veterinary Biologicals, Taizhou, China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address:
The present study aimed to investigate the optimal inactivants and inactivation conditions for preparing inactivated vaccines of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma hyorhinis. Mycoplasma inactivation was performed using formaldehyde, thimerosal, β-propiolactone (BPL), and binary ethylenimine (BEI) and compared. The results showed that M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Trop
January 2025
Centre of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacen(TM)), North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa. Electronic address:
Praziquantel is currently the only effective treatment for schistosomiasis, but several limitations underscore the need for new therapeutic agents. Recent promising in vitro results with Artemisia species and the success of A. annua and its active compound artemisinin in treating parasitic infections warrant the need for further studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWaste Manag
January 2025
Green Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa.
Global waste generation, particularly waste tyres, is a significant issue, with South Africa contributing significantly to this problem. In 2021, 1.5 billion waste tyres were generated, with an expected 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Gerontol Geriatr
January 2025
Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, Hamburg, Germany.
Objectives: To examine how homeboundness is associated with psychosocial outcomes in terms of life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and loneliness among middle-aged and older adults.
Methods: Longitudinal data were taken from the nationally representative sample German Ageing Survey (wave 1 to wave 4; n = 18,491 observations). This study included community-dwelling individuals aged 40 years and over in Germany.
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