Beyond monogamy: opportunities to further reduce risk for HIV infection among married Zimbabwean women with only one lifetime partner.

The main objective of this paper was to identify HIV risk factors at the individual, partner, and partnership levels among married, lifetime monogamous women in a nationally representative sample of Zimbabweans aged 15-29 years. Cross-sectional data were collected through individual survey interviews among 1,286 women who provided blood for HIV testing. The HIV prevalence among these women was high (21.8%). HIV risk increased with female age, within-couple age difference of more than 5 years, the husband having children with other women, and the respondent being 'extremely likely' to discuss monogamy in the next 3 months with her husband. The latter suggests that women were attempting to communicate their concerns while unaware that they were already HIV positive. HIV risk largely appears related to the partner's past and present sexual behavior, resulting in limited ability for married women to protect themselves from infection. Overall, lifetime monogamy offers insufficient protection for women.

Increasing leadership capacity for HIV/AIDS programmes by strengthening public health epidemiology and management training in Zimbabwe.

BACKGROUND: Increased funding for global human immunodeficiency virus prevention and control in developing countries has created both a challenge and an opportunity for achieving long-term global health goals. This paper describes a programme in Zimbabwe aimed at responding more effectively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic by reinforcing a critical competence-based training institution and producing public health leaders. METHODS: The programme used new HIV/AIDS programme-specific funds to build on the assets of a local education institution to strengthen and expand the general public health leadership capacity in Zimbabwe, simultaneously ensuring that they were trained in HIV interventions. RESULTS: The programme increased both numbers of graduates and retention of faculty. The expanded HIV/AIDS curriculum was associated with a substantial increase in trainee projects related to HIV. The increased number of public health professionals has led to a number of practically trained persons working in public health leadership positions in the ministry, including in HIV/AIDS programmes. CONCLUSION: Investment of a modest proportion of new HIV/AIDS resources in targeted public health leadership training programmes can assist in building capacity to lead and manage national HIV and other public health programmes.

Premastication as a route of pediatric HIV transmission: case-control and cross-sectional investigations.

BACKGROUND: Three cases of pediatric HIV transmission attributed to the feeding practice of premasticating food for children have been reported. The degree of risk that premastication poses for pediatric HIV transmission and the prevalence of this behavior among HIV-infected caregivers is unknown. METHODS: During December 2009 to February 2010, we conducted a case-control investigation of late-diagnosed HIV infection in children at 6 HIV clinics using in-person and telephone interviews. A cross-sectional investigation of premastication was conducted in concert with this case-control investigation. RESULTS: We compared 11 case-patients to 35 HIV-exposed controls of similar age. Sixteen (35%) of 46 children were fed premasticated food, 10 (22%) by an HIV-infected caregiver. Twenty-seven percent of case-patients received premasticated food from an HIV-infected caregiver compared with 20% of controls (odds ratio = 1.5; 95% confidence interval = 0.3 to 7.1). In the cross-sectional investigation, 48 (31%) of 154 primary caregivers of children aged ≥6 months reported the children received premasticated food from themselves or someone else. The prevalence of premastication decreased with increasing caregiver age and had been used to feed children aged 1-36 months. CONCLUSIONS: Premastication, a potential route of HIV transmission to children, was a common practice of caregivers. Public health officials and health care providers should educate the public about the potential risk of disease transmission via premastication.

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States and is a major center for public health and health policy expertise. Yet the District of Columbia has an HIV prevalence rate among adults of 3 percent, on par with some sub-Saharan African countries. To date, the local public health response has not controlled the epidemic. The ways in which that response has been galvanized in recent years--through collaboration among the capital's public health agencies, community and faith organizations, and research institutions--may be instructive to other jurisdictions combating HIV/AIDS.

Discordance at human leukocyte antigen-DRB3 and protection from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transmission.

Host human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) integrated into the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 envelope could theoretically determine, as in tissue transplants, whether HIV-1 is "rejected" by exposed susceptible persons, preventing transmission. HLA discordance (mismatch) was examined among 45 heterosexual partner pairs in which at least 1 partner was HIV-1 infected and exposure or transmission between partners had occurred. Immunologic discordance at class II HLA-DRB3 (present in the HIV donor partner but absent in the recipient partner) was associated with lack of transmission of HIV-1. Eight (35%) of 23 partner pairs in which HIV-1 transmission did not occur were immunologically discordant at HLA-DRB3, compared with 0 of 11 partner pairs in which HIV-1 transmission did occur (P=.027). Further investigation of the roles of class II HLAs in HIV-1 transmission and as possible components of HIV-1 vaccines should be pursued.