Cost of community-led larval source management and house improvement for malaria control: a cost analysis within a cluster-randomized trial in a rural district in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: House improvement (HI) to prevent mosquito house entry, and larval source management (LSM) targeting aquatic mosquito stages to prevent development into adult forms, are promising complementary interventions to current malaria vector control strategies. Lack of evidence on costs and cost-effectiveness of community-led implementation of HI and LSM has hindered wide-scale adoption. This study presents an incremental cost analysis of community-led implementation of HI and LSM, in a cluster-randomized, factorial design trial, in addition to standard national malaria control interventions in a rural area (25,000 people), in southern Malawi. METHODS: In the trial, LSM comprised draining, filling, and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis-based larviciding, while house improvement (henceforth HI) involved closing of eaves and gaps on walls, screening windows/ventilation spaces with wire mesh, and doorway modifications. Communities implemented all interventions. Costs were estimated retrospectively using the 'ingredients approach', combining 'bottom-up' and 'top-down approaches', from the societal perspective. To estimate the cost of independently implementing each intervention arm, resources shared between trial arms (e.g. overheads) were allocated to each consuming arm using proxies developed based on share of resource input quantities consumed. Incremental implementation costs (in 2017 US$) are presented for HI-only, LSM-only and HI + LSM arms. In sensitivity analyses, the effect of varying costs of important inputs on estimated costs was explored. RESULTS: The total economic programme costs of community-led HI and LSM implementation was $626,152. Incremental economic implementation costs of HI, LSM and HI + LSM were estimated as $27.04, $25.06 and $33.44, per person per year, respectively. Project staff, transport and labour costs, but not larvicide or screening material, were the major cost drivers across all interventions. Costs were sensitive to changes in staff costs and population covered. CONCLUSIONS: In the trial, the incremental economic costs of community-led HI and LSM implementation were high compared to previous house improvement and LSM studies. Several factors, including intervention design, year-round LSM implementation and low human population density could explain the high costs. The factorial trial design necessitated use of proxies to allocate costs shared between trial arms, which limits generalizability where different designs are used. Nevertheless, costs may inform planners of similar intervention packages where cost-effectiveness is known. Trial registration Not applicable. The original trial was registered with The Pan African Clinical Trials Registry on 3 March 2016, trial number PACTR201604001501493.

Community-level interventions for improving access to food in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: After decades of decline since 2005, the global prevalence of undernourishment reverted and since 2015 has increased to levels seen in 2010 to 2011. The prevalence is highest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially Africa and Asia. Food insecurity and associated undernutrition detrimentally affect health and socioeconomic development in the short and long term, for individuals, including children, and societies. Physical and economic access to food is crucial to ensure food security. Community-level interventions could be important to increase access to food in LMICs. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of community-level interventions that aim to improve access to nutritious food in LMICs, for both the whole community and for disadvantaged or at-risk individuals or groups within a community, such as infants, children and women; elderly, poor or unemployed people; or minority groups. SEARCH METHODS: We searched for relevant studies in 16 electronic databases, including trial registries, from 1980 to September 2019, and updated the searches in six key databases in February 2020. We applied no language or publication status limits. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster randomised controlled trials (cRCTs) and prospective controlled studies (PCS). All population groups, adults and children, living in communities in LMICs exposed to community-level interventions aiming to improve food access were eligible for inclusion. We excluded studies that only included participants with specific diseases or conditions (e.g. severely malnourished children). Eligible interventions were broadly categorised into those that improved buying power (e.g. create income-generation opportunities, cash transfer schemes); addressed food prices (e.g. vouchers and subsidies); addressed infrastructure and transport that affected physical access to food outlets; addressed the social environment and provided social support (e.g. social support from family, neighbours or government). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts, and full texts of potentially eligible records, against the inclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved through discussion or arbitration by a third author, if necessary. For each included study, two authors independently extracted data and a third author arbitrated disagreements. However, the outcome data were extracted by one author and checked by a biostatistician. We assessed risk of bias for all studies using the Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) risk of bias tool for studies with a separate control group. We conducted meta-analyses if there was a minimum of two studies for interventions within the same category, reporting the same outcome measure and these were sufficiently homogeneous. Where we were able to meta-analyse, we used the random-effects model to incorporate any existing heterogeneity. Where we were unable to conduct meta-analyses, we synthesised using vote counting based on effect direction. MAIN RESULTS: We included 59 studies, including 214 to 169,485 participants, and 300 to 124, 644 households, mostly from Africa and Latin America, addressing the following six intervention types (three studies assessed two different types of interventions). Interventions that improved buying power: Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) (16 cRCTs, two RCTs, three PCSs): we found high-certainty evidence that UCTs improve food security and make little or no difference to cognitive function and development and low-certainty evidence that UCTs may increase dietary diversity and may reduce stunting. The evidence was very uncertain about the effects of UCTs on the proportion of household expenditure on food, and on wasting. Regarding adverse outcomes, evidence from one trial indicates that UCTs reduce the proportion of infants who are overweight. Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) (nine cRCTs, five PCSs): we found high-certainty evidence that CCTs result in little to no difference in the proportion of household expenditure on food and that they slightly improve cognitive function in children; moderate-certainty evidence that CCTs probably slightly improve dietary diversity and low-certainty evidence that they may make little to no difference to stunting or wasting. Evidence on adverse outcomes (two PCSs) shows that CCTs make no difference to the proportion of overweight children. Income generation interventions (six cRCTs, 11 PCSs): we found moderate-certainty evidence that income generation interventions probably make little or no difference to stunting or wasting; and low-certainty evidence that they may result in little to no difference to food security or that they may improve dietary diversity in children, but not for households. Interventions that addressed food prices: Food vouchers (three cRCTs, one RCT): we found moderate-certainty evidence that food vouchers probably reduce stunting; and low-certainty evidence that that they may improve dietary diversity slightly, and may result in little to no difference in wasting. Food and nutrition subsidies (one cRCT, three PCSs): we found low-certainty evidence that food and nutrition subsidies may improve dietary diversity among school children. The evidence is very uncertain about the effects on household expenditure on healthy foods as a proportion of total expenditure on food (very low-certainty evidence). Interventions that addressed the social environment: Social support interventions (one cRCT, one PCS): we found moderate-certainty evidence that community grants probably make little or no difference to wasting; low-certainty evidence that they may make little or no difference to stunting. The evidence is very uncertain about the effects of village savings and loans on food security and dietary diversity. None of the included studies addressed the intervention category of infrastructure changes. In addition, none of the studies reported on one of the primary outcomes of this review, namely prevalence of undernourishment. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The body of evidence indicates that UCTs can improve food security. Income generation interventions do not seem to make a difference for food security, but the evidence is unclear for the other interventions. CCTs, UCTs, interventions that help generate income, interventions that help minimise impact of food prices through food vouchers and subsidies can potentially improve dietary diversity. UCTs and food vouchers may have a potential impact on reducing stunting, but CCTs, income generation interventions or social environment interventions do not seem to make a difference on wasting or stunting. CCTs seem to positively impact cognitive function and development, but not UCTs, which may be due to school attendance, healthcare visits and other conditionalities associated with CCTs.

Community-level interventions for improving access to food in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: After decades of decline since 2005, the global prevalence of undernourishment reverted and since 2015 has increased to levels seen in 2010 to 2011. The prevalence is highest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially Africa and Asia. Food insecurity and associated undernutrition detrimentally affect health and socioeconomic development in the short and long term, for individuals, including children, and societies. Physical and economic access to food is crucial to ensure food security. Community-level interventions could be important to increase access to food in LMICs. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of community-level interventions that aim to improve access to nutritious food in LMICs, for both the whole community and for disadvantaged or at-risk individuals or groups within a community, such as infants, children and women; elderly, poor or unemployed people; or minority groups. SEARCH METHODS: We searched for relevant studies in 16 electronic databases, including trial registries, from 1980 to September 2019, and updated the searches in six key databases in February 2020. We applied no language or publication status limits. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster randomised controlled trials (cRCTs) and prospective controlled studies (PCS). All population groups, adults and children, living in communities in LMICs exposed to community-level interventions aiming to improve food access were eligible for inclusion. We excluded studies that only included participants with specific diseases or conditions (e.g. severely malnourished children). Eligible interventions were broadly categorised into those that improved buying power (e.g. create income-generation opportunities, cash transfer schemes); addressed food prices (e.g. vouchers and subsidies); addressed infrastructure and transport that affected physical access to food outlets; addressed the social environment and provided social support (e.g. social support from family, neighbours or government). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts, and full texts of potentially eligible records, against the inclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved through discussion or arbitration by a third author, if necessary. For each included study, two authors independently extracted data and a third author arbitrated disagreements. However, the outcome data were extracted by one author and checked by a biostatistician. We assessed risk of bias for all studies using the Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) risk of bias tool for studies with a separate control group. We conducted meta-analyses if there was a minimum of two studies for interventions within the same category, reporting the same outcome measure and these were sufficiently homogeneous. Where we were able to meta-analyse, we used the random-effects model to incorporate any existing heterogeneity. Where we were unable to conduct meta-analyses, we synthesised using vote counting based on effect direction. MAIN RESULTS: We included 59 studies, including 214 to 169,485 participants, and 300 to 124, 644 households, mostly from Africa and Latin America, addressing the following six intervention types (three studies assessed two different types of interventions). Interventions that improved buying power: Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) (16 cRCTs, two RCTs, three PCSs): we found high-certainty evidence that UCTs improve food security and make little or no difference to cognitive function and development and low-certainty evidence that UCTs may increase dietary diversity and may reduce stunting. The evidence was very uncertain about the effects of UCTs on the proportion of household expenditure on food, and on wasting. Regarding adverse outcomes, evidence from one trial indicates that UCTs reduce the proportion of infants who are overweight. Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) (nine cRCTs, five PCSs): we found high-certainty evidence that CCTs result in little to no difference in the proportion of household expenditure on food and that they slightly improve cognitive function in children; moderate-certainty evidence that CCTs probably slightly improve dietary diversity and low-certainty evidence that they may make little to no difference to stunting or wasting. Evidence on adverse outcomes (two PCSs) shows that CCTs make no difference to the proportion of overweight children. Income generation interventions (six cRCTs, 11 PCSs): we found moderate-certainty evidence that income generation interventions probably make little or no difference to stunting or wasting; and low-certainty evidence that they may result in little to no difference to food security or that they may improve dietary diversity in children, but not for households. Interventions that addressed food prices: Food vouchers (three cRCTs, one RCT): we found moderate-certainty evidence that food vouchers probably reduce stunting; and low-certainty evidence that that they may improve dietary diversity slightly, and may result in little to no difference in wasting. Food and nutrition subsidies (one cRCT, three PCSs): we found low-certainty evidence that food and nutrition subsidies may improve dietary diversity among school children. The evidence is very uncertain about the effects on household expenditure on healthy foods as a proportion of total expenditure on food (very low-certainty evidence). Interventions that addressed the social environment: Social support interventions (one cRCT, one PCS): we found moderate-certainty evidence that community grants probably make little or no difference to wasting; low-certainty evidence that they may make little or no difference to stunting. The evidence is very uncertain about the effects of village savings and loans on food security and dietary diversity. None of the included studies addressed the intervention category of infrastructure changes. In addition, none of the studies reported on one of the primary outcomes of this review, namely prevalence of undernourishment. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The body of evidence indicates that UCTs can improve food security. Income generation interventions do not seem to make a difference for food security, but the evidence is unclear for the other interventions. CCTs, UCTs, interventions that help generate income, interventions that help minimise impact of food prices through food vouchers and subsidies can potentially improve dietary diversity. UCTs and food vouchers may have a potential impact on reducing stunting, but CCTs, income generation interventions or social environment interventions do not seem to make a difference on wasting or stunting. CCTs seem to positively impact cognitive function and development, but not UCTs, which may be due to school attendance, healthcare visits and other conditionalities associated with CCTs.

Effects of participating in community assets on quality of life and costs of care: longitudinal cohort study of older people in England.

OBJECTIVES: Improving outcomes for older people with long-term conditions and multimorbidity is a priority. Current policy commits to substantial expansion of social prescribing to community assets, such as charity, voluntary or community groups. We use longitudinal data to add to the limited evidence on whether this is associated with better quality of life or lower costs of care. DESIGN: Prospective 18-month cohort survey of self-reported participation in community assets and quality of life linked to administrative care records. Effects of starting and stopping participation estimated using double-robust estimation. SETTING: Participation in community asset facilities. Costs of primary and secondary care. PARTICIPANTS: 4377 older people with long-term conditions. INTERVENTION: Participation in community assets. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), healthcare costs and social value estimated using net benefits. RESULTS: Starting to participate in community assets was associated with a 0.017 (95% CI 0.002 to 0.032) gain in QALYs after 6 months, 0.030 (95% CI 0.005 to 0.054) after 12 months and 0.056 (95% CI 0.017 to 0.094) after 18 months. Cumulative effects on care costs were negative in each time period: £-96 (95% CI £-512 to £321) at 6 months; £-283 (95% CI £-926 to £359) at 12 months; and £-453 (95% CI £-1366 to £461) at 18 months. The net benefit of starting to participate was £1956 (95% CI £209 to £3703) per participant at 18 months. Stopping participation was associated with larger negative impacts of -0.102 (95% CI -0.173 to -0.031) QALYs and £1335.33 (95% CI £112.85 to £2557.81) higher costs after 18 months. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in community assets by older people with long-term conditions is associated with improved quality of life and reduced costs of care. Sustaining that participation is important because there are considerable health changes associated with stopping. The results support the inclusion of community assets as part of an integrated care model for older patients.

Participation as a mechanism to favour psychological empowerment and positive interaction: The "Ágora Infantil" participatory democracy programme.

This investigation aims to show the relationship between participation and psychological empowerment and between participation and interaction under an institutional political participation programme. This initiative known as Ágora Infantil (AI) is characterised by an obligatory draw-based deliberative participation methodology with superordinate goals based on group dynamics, with games playing a central role. The evaluation was carried out using a quasi-experimental design, with quantitative measurements of the experimental and control groups, along with systematic observation of the target group. The results support the hypotheses proposed: Participation in the AI programme led to an increase in psychological empowerment and positive interactions between the participants. These results offer information as to what design should be used for these types of political initiatives to favour inclusion and empowerment of children, while at the same time improving classroom relationships.

Crowdsourcing contests to facilitate community engagement in HIV cure research: a qualitative evaluation of facilitators and barriers of participation.

BACKGROUND: As HIV cure research advances, there is an increasing need for community engagement in health research, especially in low- and middle-income countries with ongoing clinical trials. Crowdsourcing contests provide an innovative bottom-up way to solicit community feedback on clinical trials in order to enhance community engagement. The objective of this study was to identify facilitators and barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests about HIV cure research in a city with ongoing HIV cure clinical trials. METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews to evaluate facilitators and barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests in Guangzhou, China. Contests included the following activities: organizing a call for entries, promoting the call, evaluating entries, celebrating exceptional entries, and sharing entries. We interviewed 31 individuals, including nine HIV cure clinical trial participants, 17 contest participants, and five contest organizers. Our sample included men who have sex with men (20), people living with HIV (14), and people who inject drugs (5). We audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed the data using inductive and deductive coding techniques. RESULTS: Facilitators of crowdsourcing contest participation included responsiveness to lived experiences, strong community interest in HIV research, and community trust in medical professionals and related groups. Contests had more participants if they responded to the lived experiences, challenges, and opportunities of living with HIV in China. Strong community interest in HIV research helped to drive the formulation and execution of HIV cure contests, building support and momentum for these activities. Finally, participant trust in medical professionals and related groups (community-based organizations and contest organizers) further strengthened the ties between community members and researchers. Barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests included persistent HIV stigma and myths about HIV. Stigma associated with discussing HIV made promotion difficult in certain contexts (e.g., city squares and schools). Myths and misperceptions about HIV science confused participants. CONCLUSIONS: Our data identified facilitators and barriers of participation in HIV cure crowdsourcing contests in China. Our findings could complement existing HIV community engagement strategies and help to design HIV contests for community engagement in other settings, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Population Health Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of Community-Supported Agriculture Among Low-Income US Adults: A Microsimulation Analysis.

Objectives. To estimate the population-level effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a subsidized community-supported agriculture (CSA) intervention in the United States.Methods. In 2019, we developed a microsimulation model from nationally representative demographic, biomedical, and dietary data (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013-2016) and a community-based randomized trial (conducted in Massachusetts from 2017 to 2018). We modeled 2 interventions: unconditional cash transfer ($300/year) and subsidized CSA ($300/year subsidy).Results. The total discounted disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) accumulated over the life course to cardiovascular disease and diabetes complications would be reduced from 24 797 per 10 000 people (95% confidence interval [CI] = 24 584, 25 001) at baseline to 23 463 per 10 000 (95% CI = 23 241, 23 666) under the cash intervention and 22 304 per 10 000 (95% CI = 22 084, 22 510) under the CSA intervention. From a societal perspective and over a life-course time horizon, the interventions had negative incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, implying cost savings to society of -$191 100 per DALY averted (95% CI = -$191 767, -$188 919) for the cash intervention and -$93 182 per DALY averted (95% CI = -$93 707, -$92 503) for the CSA intervention.Conclusions. Both the cash transfer and subsidized CSA may be important public health interventions for low-income persons in the United States.

Beyond clinical trials: social outcomes of structured stakeholder engagement in biomedical HIV prevention trials in China.

Stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognised and institutionalised as an essential component of HIV-related biomedical research. However, we know little about stakeholder engagement's social outcomes, such as its influence on the community it engages with, in authoritarian regimes and beyond high-income countries. This study evaluates a multi-site structured stakeholder engagement programme conducted in parallel with two HIV prevention studies among men who have sex with men in China. We conducted a one-month ethnographic study and 41 semi-structured interviews with participants of a structured stakeholder engagement programme in six Chinese cities. We found that the structured stakeholder engagement programme offered community stakeholders additional and flexible funding, networking opportunities, increased clinical research literacy, and strengthened their connections with the community. However, the structured stakeholder programme generated unintended consequences in some cases. It caused community stakeholders to expend their social capital, introduced moral conflicts and created tension between stakeholders' 'community representative' and 'research assistant' identities. Our findings suggest that despite these unintended consequences, structured stakeholder engagement could effectively mitigate negative outcomes generated by such engagement if such programmes are more sensitive and responsive to the broader socio-political structure in which trials are embedded.

Scaling Up Solutions to Toxic Contamination in Communities.

In this special issue of IJERPH, we feature studies conducted by research translation and community engagement teams that are funded through the Superfund Research Program in the United States. These and other teams funded by this program demonstrate how environmental and health communication research can contribute to generalizable lessons about helping and empowering contaminated communities. These types of applied behavioral, social and communication projects are important because while much about our communities is unique and must be addressed on a case by case basis, other aspects of research translation and community engagement processes are potentially generalizable across sites and can thus be used to scale up solutions to toxic contamination to other communities and countries more rapidly than would otherwise occur.

The economic recession and civic participation: the curious case of Rotterdam's civil society, 2008-2013.

This paper investigates how the 2008-9 recession affected civic participation in disadvantaged and affluent neighbourhoods in the city of Rotterdam. We hypothesize that levels of civic participation may either diverge or converge across neighbourhoods with a different socioeconomic status. We build upon a recent wave of studies examining how civil society has been affected by the 2008-9 recession. Using five waves from the Rotterdam Neighbourhood Profile survey (N = 63,134; 71 neighbourhoods), we find converging trends in civic participation. Between 2008 and 2013, civic participation declined in affluent neighbourhoods but increased slightly in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This convergence is partly due to the level of perceived problems in the neighbourhood and differences in the types of volunteering found in disadvantaged and affluent neighbourhoods. In addition, we argue that these converging trends can be better understood by considering the neighbourhood organizational infrastructure and local policy configurations. Next to examining the impact of the 2008-9 recession on civic participation, we contribute to research on civil society by comparing the UK and Dutch context.

A 'community enterprise' model for recreational cannabis: Lessons from alcohol licensing trusts in New Zealand.

The legalisation of cannabis on the American continent in recent years has reinvigorated calls for cannabis law reform in many countries. Yet researchers have described potentially negative public health and social impacts of profit driven commercial markets for cannabis. Consequently, they have suggested exploring a number of alternative regulatory options, such as "not-for-profit" or "for-benefit" organisations. However, many of these new models are yet to be developed in detail. This paper presents a "community enterprise" model for recreational cannabis based on the alcohol licensing trusts which have existed in New Zealand for many decades. Alcohol licensing trusts are community-owned entities which operate alcohol retail outlets and return a portion of their profits back to local communities in the form of grants, loans and donations. The principal benefits of the "community trust" model are suppressing the commercial incentive to expand the market, establishing statutory obligations to distribute revenue back to the community, and establishing community governance over alcohol sales. The removal of a strong commercial incentive and community accountability may also contribute to lower levels of availability, higher prices and less harm. A further benefit is providing the local community with some oversight of a trust's commercial activities via community elections of the trust board and the ability to call a "community poll" to vote on the future existence of the trust. Our proposed community cannabis licensing trust model seeks to address some of the challenges experienced by alcohol licensing trusts in New Zealand, including the lack of general oversight and balancing the commercial and social aims of the trusts. A limitation of this model includes a lack of research and evaluation of the existing alcohol licensing trusts and further research in this area would inform the application of the model to cannabis.

Does an all-condition case management program for high-risk patients reduce health care utilization in medicaid and medicare beneficiaries with diabetes?

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether an all-condition case management program can improve health care utilization and clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: 1342 patients with diabetes were enrolled in the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership (J-CHiP) Case Management program for high-risk patients with any chronic disease. We categorized participants into two intervention exposure categories based on the number of contacts with case manager (CM) and community health worker (CHW) per month: low contact (≤1 contact/month), and high contact (>1 contacts/month). The primary outcomes were rates of emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and 30-day hospital readmissions. RESULTS: In analyses adjusted for age, sex, race, risk score, and baseline health utilization rate, Medicaid participants in the high contact group had 42% (rate ratio (RR): 1.42; 95% CI: 1.08-1.86) and 64% (RR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.08-2.48) higher risks for hospital admission and readmission, respectively, than the low contact group. Similar increases were seen in the Medicare participants with 20% (RR: 1.20; 95% 1.02-1.42) and 42% (RR:1.42; 95% 1.09-1.84) higher risks for admission and readmission, respectively. The associations were not statistically significant for ED visits. Subsidiary analysis of a subset with HbA1c available (n = 545) revealed a statistically significant decrease in HbA1c among Medicare participants (mean (SD): -0.17% (1.50%)), with a larger decrease in the high contact group (mean (SD): -0.23% (1.59%)). CONCLUSION: In an all-condition case management program for high-risk patients, the higher intensity of contacts with CHW and CM was not associated with a reduced health care utilization in adults with diabetes.

Sustaining the community dispensation strategy of HIV antiretroviral through community participation.

BACKGROUND: The advent and widespread use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has remarkably changed the paradigm of HIV infection, increasing substantially the lifespan and quality of life of people affected. Accordingly and responding to policy makers and international directives, many strategies were put in place in Cameroon to accelerate ART uptake, including the community dispensation of ART through community-based organizations (CBOs). MAIN BODY: In its strategic plan to curb the burden of HIV/AIDS and as part of accelerating and reinforcing the provision of ART to all people living with HIV (PLWH), Cameroon opted for different strategies including the dispensation of ART in the community through well identified and tutored CBOs. Actually, financing of ART in Cameroon is mainly the conjugation of resources from the Government and its technical and financial partners, basically the Global Funds supplemented by supports from the Unitaid initiative which allows PLWH residing in Cameroon to benefit from continuous ART without spending a dime. However, this external funding will end-up by 2020. Therefore, there is urgent need to think of alternative and efficient strategies to sustain the fight against HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, especially the provision of ART to patients through community dispensation. Some studies carried out in sub-Saharan African countries have shown that mutual health insurance seems to be a solution with great potential to improve access to quality care, mobilize the necessary funds, improve efficiency of the health sector, and promote dialogue and democratic governance in the health sector along with social and institutional development of the society. CONCLUSIONS: The pooling of associations of PLWH in Cameroon and other countries of sub-Saharan Africa in line with the Bamako Initiative constitutes a promising strategy that would undoubtedly help to offset the withdrawal of funding from external sources, and allow an appropriation of the fight against HIV/AIDS by those concerned at the first place. Nevertheless, other lines of research of financing could be explored in the economic sector.

Impact of Social Media on Community Consultation in Exception From Informed Consent Clinical Trials.

BACKGROUND: Exception from informed consent (EFIC) allows clinician scientists to perform much needed emergency research. Obtaining this exception, however, requires many meetings with community groups for consultation, which can make the process time-consuming and expensive. We aim to determine the impact of using social media in lieu of some community meetings in an effort to obtain an EFIC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An economic analysis of four randomized clinical trials was performed. Costs were conservatively estimated using personnel costs, social media costs, and adjusted to 2016 US dollars. People were considered reached if they attended a community meeting or were directed to the study website by social media and spent ≥1 min. RESULTS: The Early Whole Blood study required 14 meetings, reached 272 people, and cost $8260 ($30/person reached). The Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios study required 14 meetings, reached 260 people, and cost $7479 overall ($29/person reached). The Prehospital Tranexamic Acid Use for Traumatic Brain Injury study required 12 meetings, reached 198 people, and cost $6340 ($32/person reached). Only the damage control laparotomy trial utilized social media in lieu of some community meetings. The damage control laparotomy trial required six meetings at which 137 people were reached. The $1000 social media campaign reached 229 people. The cost was $3977 overall and $11/person reached. CONCLUSIONS: Including a social media campaign during the EFIC process increased the number of potential patients reached and reduced total and per person costs reached costs. Obtaining an EFIC for future emergency clinical trials may be facilitated by the inclusion of a social media campaign.

A Low-Cost, Community Knowledge Approach to Estimate Maternal and Jaundice-Associated Mortality in Rural Bangladesh.

In the absence of a civil registration system, a house-to-house survey is often used to estimate cause-specific mortality in low- and middle-income countries. However, house-to-house surveys are resource and time intensive. We applied a low-cost community knowledge approach to identify maternal deaths from any cause and jaundice-associated deaths among persons aged ≥ 14 years, and stillbirths and neonatal deaths in mothers with jaundice during pregnancy in five rural communities in Bangladesh. We estimated the method's sensitivity and cost savings compared with a house-to-house survey. In the five communities with a total of 125,570 population, we identified 13 maternal deaths, 60 deaths among persons aged ≥ 14 years associated with jaundice, five neonatal deaths, and four stillbirths born to a mother with jaundice during pregnancy over the 3-year period before the survey using the community knowledge approach. The sensitivity of community knowledge method in identifying target deaths ranged from 80% for neonatal deaths to 100% for stillbirths and maternal deaths. The community knowledge approach required 36% of the staff time to undertake compared with the house-to-house survey. The community knowledge approach was less expensive but highly sensitive in identifying maternal and jaundice-associated mortality, as well as all-cause adult mortality in rural settings in Bangladesh. This method can be applied in rural settings of other low- and middle-income countries and, in conjunction with hospital-based hepatitis diagnoses, used to monitor the impact of programs to reduce the burden of cause-specific hepatitis mortality, a current World Health Organization priority.

Assessing the cost-effectiveness of the Peace Management Initiative as an intervention to reduce the homicide rate in a community in Kingston, Jamaica.

OBJECTIVES: Communities throughout the world are investigating various approaches to reduce violence, especially gun violence. The objective of this study is to determine the cost-effectiveness of the Peace Management Initiative as an intervention to reduce the homicide rate in volatile community in Kingston, Jamaica. METHODS: A preliminary longitudinal study tracked the homicide rate in a selected volatile community in Kingston, Jamaica, over the 5-year period of PMI intervention in this community. The changes in the incidence of homicides were costed according to direct medical costs and productivity losses assuming that, without intervention, the number of homicides per year would have remained at the 2005 level. This was used to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. RESULTS: The Peace Management Initiative approach reduced homicides by 96.9% over the 5-year intervention period. The cost/benefit ratio for the intervention has been estimated to be JMD $12.38 saved per dollar spent on intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The Peace Management Initiative approach was seen to significantly reduce the murder rate over the 5-year intervention period and provides a promising cost-effective approach for violence prevention.

12-Month Cost Outcomes of Community Engagement Versus Technical Assistance for Depression Quality Improvement: A Partnered, Cluster Randomized, Comparative-Effectiveness Trial.

Objective: To compare community engagement and planning (CEP) for coalition support to implement depression quality improvement (QI) to resources for services (RS) effects on service-use costs over a 12-month period. Design: Matched health and community programs (N=93) were cluster-randomized within communities to CEP or RS. Setting: Two Los Angeles communities. Participants: Adults (N=1,013) with depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) ≥10); 85% African American and Latino. Interventions: CEP and RS to support programs in depression QI. Main Outcome Measures: Intervention training and service-use costs over 12 months. Results: CEP planning and training costs were almost 3 times higher than RS, largely due to greater CEP provider training participation vs RS, with no significant differences in 12-month service-use costs. Conclusions: Compared with RS, CEP had higher planning and training costs with similar service-use costs.

The global response and unmet actions for HIV and sex workers.

Female, male, and transgender sex workers continue to have disproportionately high burdens of HIV infection in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries in 2018. 4 years since our Lancet Series on HIV and sex work, our updated analysis of the global HIV burden among female sex workers shows that HIV prevalence is unacceptably high at 10·4% (95% CI 9·5-11·5) and is largely unchanged. Comprehensive epidemiological data on HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage are scarce, particularly among transgender women. Sustained coverage of treatment is markedly uneven and challenged by lack of progress on stigma and criminalisation, and sustained human rights violations. Although important progress has been made in biomedical interventions with pre-exposure prophylaxis and early ART feasibility and demonstration projects, limited coverage and retention suggest that sustained investment in community and structural interventions is required for sex workers to benefit from the preventive interventions and treatments that other key populations have. Evidence-based progress on full decriminalisation grounded in health and human rights-a key recommendation in our Lancet Series-has stalled, with South Africa a notable exception. Additionally, several countries have rolled back rights to sex workers further. Removal of legal barriers through the decriminalisation of sex work, alongside political and funding investments to support community and structural interventions, is urgently needed to reverse the HIV trajectory and ensure health and human rights for all sex workers.