Brief Report: Self-Reported HIV-Positive Status but Subsequent HIV-Negative Test Results in Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Survey Participants-11 Sub-Saharan African Countries, 2015-2018.

BACKGROUND: HIV testing is a critical step to accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART) because early diagnosis can facilitate earlier initiation of ART. This study presents aggregated data of individuals who self-reported being HIV-positive but subsequently tested HIV-negative during nationally representative Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment surveys conducted in 11 countries from 2015 to 2018. METHOD: Survey participants aged 15 years or older were interviewed by trained personnel using a standard questionnaire to determine HIV testing history and self-reported HIV status. Home-based HIV testing and counseling using rapid diagnostic tests with return of results were performed by survey staff according to the respective national HIV testing services algorithms on venous blood samples. Laboratory-based confirmatory HIV testing for all participants identified as HIV-positives and self-reported positives, irrespective of HIV testing results, was conducted and included Geenius HIV-1/2 and DNA polymerase chain reaction if Geenius was negative or indeterminate. RESULTS: Of the 16,630 participants who self-reported as HIV-positive, 16,432 (98.6%) were confirmed as HIV-positive and 198 (1.4%) were HIV-negative by subsequent laboratory-based testing. Participants who self-reported as HIV-positive but tested HIV-negative were significantly younger than 30 years, less likely to have received ART, and less likely to have received a CD4 test compared with participants who self-reported as HIV-positive with laboratory-confirmed infection. CONCLUSIONS: A small proportion of self-reported HIV-positive individuals could not be confirmed as positive, which could be due to initial misdiagnosis, deliberate wrong self-report, or misunderstanding of the questionnaire. As universal ART access is expanding, it is increasingly important to ensure quality of HIV testing and confirmation of HIV diagnosis before ART initiation.

Risk Factors for Recent HIV Infections among Adults in 14 Countries in Africa Identified by Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Surveys, 2015-2019.

Identifying persons who have newly acquired HIV infections is critical for characterizing the HIV epidemic direction. We analyzed pooled data from nationally representative Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment surveys conducted across 14 countries in Africa for recent infection risk factors. We included adults 15-49 years of age who had sex during the previous year and used a recent infection testing algorithm to distinguish recent from long-term infections. We collected risk factor information via participant interviews and assessed correlates of recent infection using multinomial logistic regression, incorporating each survey's complex sampling design. Compared with HIV-negative persons, persons with higher odds of recent HIV infection were women, were divorced/separated/widowed, had multiple recent sex partners, had a recent HIV-positive sex partner or one with unknown status, and lived in communities with higher HIV viremia prevalence. Prevention programs focusing on persons at higher risk for HIV and their sexual partners will contribute to reducing HIV incidence.

Point of Care CD4 Testing in National Household Surveys - Results and Quality Indicators from Eleven Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) Surveys.

Population-based HIV Impact Assessments (PHIAs) are national household (HH) surveys that provide HIV diagnosis and CD4 testing with an immediate return of results. Accurate CD4 results improve HIV-positive participants' clinical care and inform the effectiveness of HIV programs. Here, we present CD4 results from the PHIA surveys that were conducted in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2015 and 2018. All of the HIV-positive participants and 2 to 5% of the HIV-negative participants were offered Pima CD4 (Abbott, IL, USA) point-of-care (POC) tests. The quality of the CD4 test was ensured by conducting instrument verification, comprehensive training, quality control, a review of testing errors and an analysis of unweighted CD4 data by HIV status, age, gender, and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment status. Overall, CD4 testing was completed for 23,085 (99.5%) of the 23,209 HIV-positive and 7,329 (2.7%) of the 270,741 negative participants in 11 surveys. The instrument error rate was 11.3% (range, 4.4% to 15.7%). The median CD4 values among HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants (aged 15+) were 468 cells/mm3 (interquartile range [IQR], 307 to 654) and 811 cells/mm3 (IQR, 647 to 1,013), respectively. Among the HIV-positive participants (aged 15+), those with detectable ARVs had higher CD4 values (508 cells/mm3) than those with undetectable ARVs (385.5 cells/mm3). Among the HIV-positive participants (aged 15+), 11.4% (2,528/22,253) had a CD4 value of less than 200 cells/mm3, and approximately half of them (1,225/2,528 = 48.5%) had detectable ARVs, whereas 51.5% (1,303/2,528) had no detectable ARVs (P < 0.0001). We successfully implemented high quality POC CD4 testing using Pima instruments. Our data come from nationally representative surveys in 11 countries and provide unique insights regarding the CD4 distribution among HIV-positive individuals as well as the baseline CD4 values among HIV-negative individuals. IMPORTANCE The manuscript describes CD4 levels among HIV-positive individuals and baseline CD4 levels among HIV-negative individuals from 11 sub-Saharan countries, thereby highlighting the importance of CD4 markers in the context of the HIV epidemic. Despite increased ARV access in each country, advanced HIV disease (CD4 < 200 cells/mm3) persists among approximately 11% of HIV-positive individuals. Therefore, it is important that our findings are shared with the scientific community to assist with similar implementations of point-of-care testing and to conduct a review of HIV programmatic gaps.

Estimation of HIV-1 Incidence Using a Testing History-Based Method; Analysis From the Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Survey Data in 12 African Countries.

BACKGROUND: Estimating HIV incidence is essential to monitoring progress in sub-Saharan African nations toward global epidemic control. One method for incidence estimation is to test nationally representative samples using laboratory-based incidence assays. An alternative method based on reported HIV testing history and the proportion of undiagnosed infections has recently been described. METHODS: We applied an HIV incidence estimation method which uses history of testing to nationally representative cross-sectional survey data from 12 sub-Saharan African nations with varying country-specific HIV prevalence. We compared these estimates with those derived from laboratory-based incidence assays. Participants were tested for HIV using the national rapid test algorithm and asked about prior HIV testing, date and result of their most recent test, and date of antiretroviral therapy initiation. RESULTS: The testing history-based method consistently produced results that are comparable and strongly correlated with estimates produced using a laboratory-based HIV incidence assay (ρ = 0.85). The testing history-based method produced incidence estimates that were more precise compared with the biomarker-based method. The testing history-based method identified sex-, age-, and geographic location-specific differences in incidence that were not detected using the biomarker-based method. CONCLUSIONS: The testing history-based method estimates are more precise and can produce age-specific and sex-specific incidence estimates that are informative for programmatic decisions. The method also allows for comparisons of the HIV transmission rate and other components of HIV incidence among and within countries. The testing history-based method is a useful tool for estimating and validating HIV incidence from cross-sectional survey data.

Rapid reduction of maternal mortality in Uganda and Zambia through the saving mothers, giving life initiative: results of year 1 evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Achieving maternal mortality reduction as a development goal remains a major challenge in most low-resource countries. Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) is a multi-partner initiative designed to reduce maternal mortality rapidly in high mortality settings through community and facility evidence-based interventions and district-wide health systems strengthening that could reduce delays to appropriate obstetric care. METHODS: An evaluation employing multiple studies and data collection methods was used to compare baseline maternal outcomes to those during Year 1 in SMGL pilot districts in Uganda and Zambia. Studies include health facility assessments, pregnancy outcome monitoring, enhanced maternal mortality detection in facilities, and population-based investigation of community maternal deaths. Population-based evaluation used standard approaches and comparable indicators to measure outcome and impact, and to allow comparison of the SMGL implementation in unique country contexts. RESULTS: The evaluation found a 30% reduction in the population-based maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Uganda during Year 1, from 452 to 316 per 100,000 live births. The MMR in health facilities declined by 35% in each country (from 534 to 345 in Uganda and from 310 to 202 in Zambia). The institutional delivery rate increased by 62% in Uganda and 35% in Zambia. The number of facilities providing emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) rose from 10 to 25 in Uganda and from 7 to 11 in Zambia. Partial EmONC care became available in many more low and mid-level facilities. Cesarean section rates for all births increased by 23% in Uganda and 15% in Zambia. The proportion of women with childbirth complications delivered in EmONC facilities rose by 25% in Uganda and 23% in Zambia. Facility case fatality rates fell from 2.6 to 2.0% in Uganda and 3.1 to 2.0% in Zambia. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal mortality ratios fell significantly in one year in Uganda and Zambia following the introduction of the SMGL model. This model employed a comprehensive district system strengthening approach. The lessons learned from SMGL can inform policymakers and program managers in other low and middle income settings where similar approaches could be utilized to rapidly reduce preventable maternal deaths.

Ethnic inequality in Guatemalan women's use of modern reproductive health care.

CONTEXT: Guatemala has some of the poorest reproductive health indices and largest disparities in health in Latin America, particularly between indigenous and ladina women. To reduce these disparities, it is necessary to understand how indigenous women's disadvantages in linguistic, socioeconomic or residential characteristics relate to their underutilization of reproductive health services. METHODS: Logistic regression analyses of a nationally representative sample of women aged 15-49 from the 2008-2009 National Survey of Maternal and Infant Health were used to estimate ethnic disparities in women's use of institutional prenatal care and delivery, and in met demand for modern contraceptives. Using predicted probabilities, we estimated the extent to which these disparities were attributable to a language barrier among indigenous women and to their disadvantage in selected socioeconomic and residential characteristics. RESULTS: The ethnic difference in use of institutional prenatal care was small; however, institutional delivery was far less common among indigenous women than among ladina women (36% vs. 73%), as was met need for modern contraceptives (49% vs. 72%). Not speaking Spanish accounted for the largest portion of these ethnic differentials. Indigenous women's poor education and rural residence made up smaller portions of the ethnic differential in modern contraceptive use than did their economic disadvantage. CONCLUSION: The large proportion of indigenous women who use institutional prenatal care suggests that further integrating the three services may increase their use of institutional delivery and modern contraceptives. Adding speakers of local Mayan languages to the staff of health facilities could also help increase use.

Exploring the connections between HIV serostatus and individual, household, and community socioeconomic resources: evidence from two population-based surveys in Kenya.

The positive association between health and socioeconomic status (SES) is well documented. However, available empirical evidence on the SES gradients of HIV serostatus is mixed, and few studies have explored the effects of community SES indicators on individual's HIV risk. Using nationally representative data of women and men from the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey and the 2007 AIDS Indicator Survey from Kenya, we assessed the associations between HIV serostatus and SES as measured by educational attainment and household wealth at the individual/household and community levels. Additionally, we explored changes in these associations between 2003 and 2007. Results from bivariate and cohort analyses showed that during this period, HIV burden shifted from higher to lower SES subgroups at both the individual/household and community levels, particularly among women aged 15-24 years. Results from multi-level logistic regression models showed that this shift was generally significant among women. In addition, communities' collective educational attainment, measured as the percentage of residents with some secondary schooling or higher, was a more significant predictor and protective factor for HIV risk than individual/household-level SES indicators for women in 2007 and men in both years. Our findings highlight the relevance of community-level SES to HIV dynamics in Kenya between 2003 and 2007.