Comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS testing and linkage to treatment among men who have sex with men in Curitiba, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: The Curitiba (Brazil)-based Project, A Hora é Agora (AHA), evaluated a comprehensive HIV control strategy among men who have sex with men (MSM) aimed at expanding access to HIV rapid testing and linking HIV-positive MSM to health services and treatment. AHA's approach included rapid HIV Testing Services (HTC) in one mobile testing unit (MTU); a local, gay-led, non-governmental organization (NGO); an existing government-run health facility (COA); and Internet-based HIV self-testing. The objectives of the paper were to compare a) number of MSM tested in each strategy, its positivity and linkage; b) social, demographic and behavioral characteristics of MSM accessing the different HTC and linkage services; and c) the costs of the individual strategies to diagnose and link MSM to services. METHODS: We used data for 2,681 MSM tested at COA, MTU and NGO from March 2015 to March 2017. This is a cross sectional comparison of the demographics and behavioral factors (age group, race/ethnicity, education, sexually transmitted diseases, knowledge of AHA services and previous HIV test). Absolute frequencies, percentage distributions and confidence intervals for the percentages were used, as well as unilateral statistical tests. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: AHA performed 2,681 HIV tests among MSM across three in-person strategies: MTU, NGO, and COA; and distributed 4,752 HIV oral fluid tests through the self-testing platform. MTU, NGO and COA reported 365 (13.6%) HIV positive diagnoses among MSM, including 28 users with previous HIV diagnosis or on antiretroviral treatment for HIV. Of these, 89% of MSM were eligible for linkage-to-care services. Linkage support was accepted by 86% of positive MSM, of which 66.7% were linked to services in less than 90 days. The MTU resulted in the lowest cost per MSM tested ($137 per test), followed by self-testing ($247). CONCLUSIONS: AHA offered MSM access to HTC through innovative strategies operating in alternative sites and schedules. It presented the Curitiba HIV/AIDS community the opportunity to monitor HIV-positive MSM from diagnosis to treatment uptake. Self-testing emerged as a feasible strategy to increase MSM access to HIV-testing through virtual tools and anonymous test kit delivery and pick-up. Cost per test findings in both the MTU and self-testing support expansion to other regions with similar epidemiological contexts.

Mineração de dados no enfrentamento da transmissão vertical da sífilis / Data mining for coping mother-to-child syphilis transmission

Este artigo objetiva identificar, por meio da Mineração de Dados, informações que auxiliem nas estratégias para o enfrentamento da transmissão vertical da sífilis em Curitiba-PR. Trata-se de estudo transversal, exploratório,bibliográfico e documental. Foi construída uma base de dados, proveniente dos Sistemas de Informação em Saúde: SINAN, SINASC e SCNES, e utilizada a tarefa de classificação nos experimentos de Mineração de Dados. Dentre os fatores associados ao tratamento inadequado da gestante destacam-se aqueles relacionados à falha na assistência ao pré-natal: ausência de realização de pré-natal, diagnóstico realizado em tempo inoportuno, falta de sensibilização do parceiro para o tratamento e não realização de tratamento. Também foi possível identificar falhas nos registros, com preenchimento inadequado, inconsistente ou de baixa qualidade. Os resultados obtidos sugerem a necessidade de sensibilização e capacitação dos profissionais de saúde no que diz respeito à assistência ao pré-natal, bem como no registro de dados referentes a esta assistência.

This paper aims to identify, with Data Mining, characteristics and standards that can help to confront mother-to-child transmission of syphilis in Curitiba-PR. It is a transversal, exploratory, bibliographical and documentary study. A database was created, from three Health Information Systems - SINAN, SINASC e SCNES, and it was used classification task in experiments of Data Mining. Among the factors associated with pregnant women's inappropriate treatment there are those related to gaps in antenatal car: lack of realization of antenatal care, late diagnosis, lack of pregnant women's partner awareness of the treatment and not undertaking treatment. It was also possible to identify failure in records, with inadequate filling records, inconsistent or with poor quality. Results suggest the need for sensitization and training of health professionals related to antenatal care, including records relating to this assistance.