Estimated mortality on HIV treatment among active patients and patients lost to follow-up in 4 provinces of Zambia: Findings from a multistage sampling-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Survival represents the single most important indicator of successful HIV treatment. Routine monitoring fails to capture most deaths. As a result, both regional assessments of the impact of HIV services and identification of hotspots for improvement efforts are limited. We sought to assess true mortality on treatment, characterize the extent under-reporting of mortality in routine health information systems in Zambia, and identify drivers of mortality across sites and over time using a multistage, regionally representative sampling approach. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We enumerated all HIV infected adults on antiretroviral therapy (ART) who visited any one of 64 facilities across 4 provinces in Zambia during the 24-month period from 1 August 2013 to 31 July 2015. We identified a probability sample of patients who were lost to follow-up through selecting facilities probability proportional to size and then a simple random sample of lost patients. Outcomes among patients lost to follow-up were incorporated into survival analysis and multivariate regression through probability weights. Of 165,464 individuals (64% female, median age 39 years (IQR 33-46), median CD4 201 cells/mm3 (IQR 111-312), the 2-year cumulative incidence of mortality increased from 1.9% (95% CI 1.7%-2.0%) to a corrected rate of 7.0% (95% CI 5.7%-8.4%) (all ART users) and from 2.1% (95% CI 1.8%-2.4%) to 8.3% (95% CI 6.1%-10.7%) (new ART users). Revised provincial mortality rates ranged from 3-9 times higher than naïve rates for new ART users and were lowest in Lusaka Province (4.6 per 100 person-years) and highest in Western Province (8.7 per 100 person-years) after correction. Corrected mortality rates varied markedly by clinic, with an IQR of 3.5 to 7.5 deaths per 100 person-years and a high of 13.4 deaths per 100 person-years among new ART users, even after adjustment for clinical (e.g., pretherapy CD4) and contextual (e.g., province and clinic size) factors. Mortality rates (all ART users) were highest year 1 after treatment at 4.6/100 person-years (95% CI 3.9-5.5), 2.9/100 person-years (95% CI 2.1-3.9) in year 2, and approximately 1.6% per year through 8 years on treatment. In multivariate analysis, patient-level factors including male sex and pretherapy CD4 levels and WHO stage were associated with higher mortality among new ART users, while male sex and HIV disclosure were associated with mortality among all ART users. In both cases, being late (>14 days late for appointment) or lost (>90 days late for an appointment) was associated with deaths. We were unable to ascertain the vital status of about one-quarter of those lost and selected for tracing and did not adjudicate causes of death. CONCLUSIONS: HIV treatment in Zambia is not optimally effective. The high and sustained mortality rates and marked under-reporting of mortality at the provincial-level and unexplained heterogeneity between regions and sites suggest opportunities for the use of corrected mortality rates for quality improvement. A regionally representative sampling-based approach can bring gaps and opportunities for programs into clear epidemiological focus for local and global decision makers.

Underutilisation of routinely collected data in the HIV programme in Zambia: a review of quantitatively analysed peer-reviewed articles.

BACKGROUND: The extent to which routinely collected HIV data from Zambia has been used in peer-reviewed published articles remains unexplored. This paper is an analysis of peer-reviewed articles that utilised routinely collected HIV data from Zambia within six programme areas from 2004 to 2014. METHODS: Articles on HIV, published in English, listed in the Directory of open access journals, African Journals Online, Google scholar, and PubMed were reviewed. Only articles from peer-reviewed journals, that utilised routinely collected data and included quantitative data analysis methods were included. Multi-country studies involving Zambia and another country, where the specific results for Zambia were not reported, as well as clinical trials and intervention studies that did not take place under routine care conditions were excluded, although community trials which referred patients to the routine clinics were included. Independent extraction was conducted using a predesigned data collection form. Pooled analysis was not possible due to diversity in topics reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 69 articles were extracted for review. Of these, 7 were excluded. From the 62 articles reviewed, 39 focused on HIV treatment and retention in care, 15 addressed prevention of mother-to-child transmission, 4 assessed social behavioural change, and 4 reported on voluntary counselling and testing. In our search, no articles were found on condom programming or voluntary male medical circumcision. The most common outcome measures reported were CD4+ count, clinical failure or mortality. The population analysed was children in 13 articles, women in 16 articles, and both adult men and women in 33 articles. CONCLUSION: During the 10 year period of review, only 62 articles were published analysing routinely collected HIV data in Zambia. Serious consideration needs to be made to maximise the utility of routinely collected data, and to benefit from the funds and efforts to collect these data. This could be achieved with government support of operational research and publication of findings based on routinely collected Zambian HIV data.

Holding a country countdown to 2015 conference on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the Zambian experience.

Initiatives such as the Country Countdown to 2015 Conference on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have provided countries with high maternal and child deaths like Zambia a platform to assess progress, discuss challenges and share lessons learnt as a conduit for national commitment to reaching and attaining the MDGs four and five. This paper discusses and highlights the process of holding a successful country countdown conference and shares Zambia's experience with other countries planning to organise country countdown to 2015 Conferences on MDGs.

Understanding colonialism and its influences on contemporary physiotherapy education and research: students' perspectives on decolonializing solutions.

BACKGROUND: Compared to other health professions, physiotherapy is a relatively new profession in Malawi and the United States, yet in both countries, past colonialism has influenced current physiotherapy education and research. The authors of this article are from Malawi and the United States, and they worked collaboratively to explore the impact of colonialization on physiotherapy education and research in their respective locations, and to discuss the similarities and contextual differences. Decolonializing physiotherapy education and research must begin by identifying how colonialization currently manifests within the profession. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to spark discussion about colonialization in physiotherapy education and research. DISCUSSION: Although decolonialization literature specific to physiotherapy is limited, the literature gathered about physiotherapy and other health professions prompted generative discussion and reflection among the authors. These discussions and reflections led to student-driven recommendations that are outlined in this article and could be included in the decolonialization efforts in physiotherapy. CONCLUSION: We propose that reflecting on how colonialism has influenced physiotherapy education and research could lead to international collaborations that support decolonialization in physiotherapy.

Field performance evaluation of dual rapid HIV and syphilis tests in three antenatal care clinics in Zambia.

This cross-sectional study of 3212 pregnant women assessed the field performance, acceptability, and feasibility of two dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests, the Chembio DPP HIV-syphilis Assay and the SD Bioline HIV/syphilis Duo in antenatal clinics. Sensitivity and specificity for HIV and syphilis were calculated compared to the rapid Determine HIV-1/2 with Uni-Gold to confirm positive results for HIV and the Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay for syphilis. RPR titers ≥1:4 were used to define active syphilis detection. Acceptability and feasibility were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. For Chembio, the HIV sensitivity was 90.6% (95%CI = 87.4, 93.0) and specificity was 97.2% (95%CI = 96.2, 97.8); syphilis sensitivity was 68.6% (95%CI = 61.9, 74.6) and specificity was 98.5% (95%CI = 97.8, 98.9). For SD Bioline, HIV sensitivity was 89.4% (95%CI = 86.1, 92.0) and specificity was 96.3% (95%CI = 95.3, 97.1); syphilis sensitivity was 66.2% (95%CI = 59.4, 72.4) and specificity was 97.2% (95%CI = 96.4, 97.9). Using the reference for active syphilis, syphilis sensitivity was 84.7% (95%CI = 76.1, 90.6) for Chembio and 81.6% (95%CI = 72.7, 88.1) for SD Bioline. Both rapid diagnostic tests were assessed as highly acceptable and feasible. In a field setting, the performance of both rapid diagnostic tests was comparable to other published field evaluations and each was rated highly acceptable and feasible. These findings can be used to guide further research and proposed scale up in antenatal clinic settings.

Measles and rubella serosurvey identifies rubella immunity gap in young adults of childbearing age in Zambia: The added value of nesting a serological survey within a post-campaign coverage evaluation survey.

BACKGROUND: Serological surveys can potentially complement vaccine coverage surveys, such as post-vaccination campaign coverage evaluation surveys (PCES), by providing direct information on population immunity within and outside the target age range of the mass vaccination campaign. We estimate age-specific population immunity to measles and rubella viruses in Southern Province, Zambia, and assess the value of adding serological data to vaccination coverage estimates by nesting a serological survey within a PCES. METHODS: Dried blood spots (DBS) from fingerprick blood were collected from all individuals ages nine months or older in households participating in the PCES and tested for measles and rubella virus-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) by enzyme immunoassay (Siemens Enzygnost, Marburg, Germany). RESULTS: Overall seroprevalence was 95.5% (95% CI: 92.8, 97.2) for measles virus-specific IgG and 97.7% (95% CI: 96.0, 98.7) for rubella virus-specific IgG. Rubella seroprevalence was 98.4% (95% CI: 95.9, 99.4) among children eligible for the MR vaccination campaign, significantly higher than the reported measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign coverage of 89.8% (p = 0.003), and higher than the 91.3% rubella seroprevalence for adolescents and adults 16-30 years of age (p = 0.049). CONCLUSION: Seroprevalence to measles and rubella viruses in children younger than 16 years of age was significantly higher than expected from vaccination coverage estimates, likely reflecting exposure to wild-type viruses and underreporting of vaccination. The serosurvey revealed rubella immunity gaps among women 16-30 years of age, precisely the age group in which protection from rubella is most important to prevent congenital rubella syndrome. Nesting serological surveys within existing surveys can leverage resources and infrastructure while providing complementary information important to immunization programs.

Delayed second dose of oral cholera vaccine administered before high-risk period for cholera transmission: Cholera control strategy in Lusaka, 2016.

BACKGROUND: In April 2016, an emergency vaccination campaign using one dose of Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) was organized in response to a cholera outbreak that started in Lusaka in February 2016. In December 2016, a second round of vaccination was conducted, with the objective of increasing the duration of protection, before the high-risk period for cholera transmission. We assessed vaccination coverage for the first and second rounds of the OCV campaign. METHODS: Vaccination coverage was estimated after each round from a sample selected from targeted-areas for vaccination using a cross-sectional survey in to establish the vaccination status of the individuals recruited. The study population included all individuals older than 12 months residing in the areas targeted for vaccination. We interviewed 505 randomly selected individuals after the first round and 442 after the second round. Vaccination status was ascertained either by vaccination card or verbal reporting. Households were selected using spatial random sampling. RESULTS: The vaccination coverage with two doses was 58.1% (25/43; 95%CI: 42.1-72.9) in children 1-5 years old, 59.5% (69/116; 95%CI: 49.9-68.5) in children 5-15 years old and 19.9% (56/281; 95%CI: 15.4-25.1) in adults above 15 years old. The overall dropout rate was 10.9% (95%CI: 8.1-14.1). Overall, 69.9% (n = 309/442; 95%CI: 65.4-74.1) reported to have received at least one OCV dose. CONCLUSIONS: The areas at highest risk of suffering cholera outbreaks were targeted for vaccination obtaining relatively high vaccine coverage after each round. However, the long delay between doses in areas subject to considerable population movement resulted in many individuals receiving only one OCV dose. Additional vaccination campaigns may be required to sustain protection over time in case of persistence of risk. Further evidence is needed to establish a maximum optimal interval time of a delayed second dose and variations in different settings.