Supplement to the 2016 consolidated Guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for Treating and Preventing HIV infection
HIV Treatment
HIV Treatment - Interim Guidance
This concept note describes the methods used to assess the prevalence of any HIVDR and HIVDR by PMTCT exposure among children less than 18 months of age using remnant dried blood spot specimens from early infant diagnosis over a 12-month period
Empfehlungen zur Diagnostik und Therapie nichttuberkulöser Mykobakteriosen des Deutschen Zentralkomitees zur Bekämpfung der Tuberkulose (DZK) und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Pneumologie und Beatmungsmedizin (DGP).
Schönfeld N et al. Recommendations of the German Central Committee… Pneumolo...gie 2016; 70: 250–276
more
Original Article
SAGE Open Medicine Volume 5: 1–7 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav httpDs:O//dIo: i1.o0r.g1/107.171/2770/52035013212171773311977 journals.sagepub.com/home/smo
This document provides a systematic approach in developing a coordinated, standardized, reliable, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable specimen transport and referral system to support IVHD and VL testing networks. This document provides technical and programmatic recommendations on the approp...riate specimen storage and transportation of specimens for HIV VL and IVHD testing. Along with the national guidelines for specimen storage and transport, these standards should provide guidance on the creation or improvement of specimen referral networks and specimen transport systems. In addition, standard operating procedures (SOPs) targeting drivers and persons responsible for packing of specimens and results return are included in this document.
No publication year indicated in the document.
more
Technical Update
HIV Treatment
July 2017
Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia can massively impact functionality and quality of life, furthering the importance of cognitive training. Despite the development of the field in Europe and in the United States, no programmes have been developed and tested in developing countries. Different cultur...al backgrounds, budget restrictions, and other difficulties may render treatment packages created in high income countries difficult for adoption by developing nations. We performed a pilot double-blind, randomized, controlled trial in order to investigate the efficacy and feasibility of an attention and memory training programme specially created in
a developing nation. The intervention used simple, widely available materials, required minimal infrastructure, and was conducted in groups.The sample included seventeen stable Brazilians with schizophrenia. Sessions were conducted weekly during five months. The cognitive training group showed significant improvements in inhibitory control and set-shifting over time. Both groups showed improvements in symptoms, processing speed, selective attention, executive function, and long-term visual memory. Improvements were found in the control group in long-term verbal memory and concentration. Our findings reinforce the idea that cognitive training in schizophrenia can be constructed using simple resources and infrastructure, facilitating its adoption by developing countries, and it may improve cognition.
more
A total of 18 laboratories from 13 countries participated in the four rounds of EQA: 10 laboratories from eight African endemic countries, four of which participated in all four rounds and three in three rounds. The overall results showed that the median performance of these laboratories improved ov...er the four rounds. However, the proportion of laboratories reporting false–positive cases remains high and indicates a problem of specificity probably due to contamination. The proportion of laboratories reporting both false–positive and false–negative results raises the issue of the quality of the data reported by WHO in Africa as well as the results of the studies carried out in these different laboratories in various countries.
more
Considerando los cambios estratégicos en el abordaje de la salud pública y de la atención primaria de la salud, la prevención y el control de la tuberculosis en Ecuador genera un cambio en la parte organizacional y en la prestación de servicios con enfoque en grupos vulnerables y/o con factores... de riesgo acorde a los ciclos de vida. Esta documento contempla una orientación apoyada en evidencia científica y otras recomendaciones en la práctica médica, basadas en el buen juicio clínico de quien la emplea como referencia, en las necesidades del afectado y en los recursos disponibles al momento de la atención, dando prioridad a la prevención, diagnóstico, tratamiento y control de la TB.
more
For the primary health worker in a low/middle-income country (LMIC) setting, delivering quality primary care is challenging. This is often complicated by clinical guidance that is out of date, inconsistent and informed by evidence from high-income countries that ignores LMIC resource constraints and... burden of disease. The Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU) of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute has developed, implemented and evaluated a health systems intervention in South Africa, and localised it to Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Brazil, that simplifies and standardises the care delivered by primary health workers while strengthening the system in which they work. At the core of this intervention, called Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK), is a clinical decision support tool, the PACK guide. This paper describes the development of the guide over an 18-year period and explains the design features that have addressed what the patient, the clinician and the health system need from clinical guidance, and have made it, in the words of a South African primary care nurse, ‘A tool for every day for every patient’. It describes the lessons learnt during the development process that the KTU now applies to further development, maintenance and in-country localisation of the guide: develop clinical decision support in context first, involve local stakeholders in all stages, leverage others’ evidence databases to remain up to date and ensure content development, updating and localisation articulate with implementation.
more
Since the description of the first case of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China, in December 2019, much knowledge has been accumulated about the dynamics of evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, contagion, disease progression, prevention and treatment.
This was a Phase 3, multi-center, randomized, open-label, parallel-group, active control study where 273 male and female patients with first stage Trypanosoma brucei gambiense HAT were treated at six sites: one trypanosomiasis reference center in Angola, one hospital in South Sudan, and four hospita...ls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between August 2005 and September 2009 to support the registration of pafuramidine for treatment of first stage HAT in collaboration with the United States Food and Drug Administration. Patients were treated with either 100 mg of pafuramidine orally twice a day for 10 days or 4 mg/kg pentamidine intramuscularly once daily for 7 days to assess the efficacy and safety of pafuramidine versus pentamidine. Pregnant and lactating women as well as adolescents were included.
more
The development of this target product profile (TPP) was led by the WHO Department of Control of Ne-
glected Tropical Diseases (NTD) following standard WHO guidance for TPP development. In order to
identify and prioritize diagnostic needs, a WHO NTD Diagnostics Technical Advisory Group (DTAG)
was... formed, and different subgroups were created to advise on specific NTDs, including a subgroup
working on the human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) diagnostic innovation needs. This group of in-
dependent experts included leading scientists, public health officials and endemic-country end-user rep-
resentatives. Standard WHO Declaration of Interest procedures were followed. A landscape analysis of
the available products and of the development pipeline was conducted, and the salient areas with unmet
needs were identified
more
The highly complex and largely neglected Chagas disease (CD) has become a global health problem due to population movements between Latin America and non-endemic countries, as well as non-vectorial transmission routes. Data on CD testing and treatment from routine patient care in Germany of almost t...wo decades was collected and analysed.
more
HIV, viral hepatitis and STI epidemics, particularly among people who inject drugs and other key populations, continue to be fuelled by laws and policies criminalizing sex work; drug use or possession; diverse forms of gender expression and sexuality; stigma and discrimination; gender discrimination...; violence; lack of community empowerment and other violations of human rights. These sociostructural factors limit access to health services, constrain how these services are
delivered and diminish their effectiveness.
more