Guidelines
June 2017
HIV strategic information for impact
Global HIV Strategic Information Working Group
For Populations At Risk For HIV
The WHO Toolkit for the care and support of people affected by complications associated with Zika virus has been developed to serve as a model guide, with the goal of enhancing country preparedness for Zika virus outbreaks. The toolkit is intended to provide a systems approach involving public heal...th planners and managers so that the necessary infrastructure and resources can be identified and incorporated as needed, as well as technical and practical guidance for health care professionals and community workers.
The toolkit includes three manuals to provide countries with tools to effectively recognize people affected by Zika virus and deliver comprehensive care and support:
Manual for public health planners and managers
Manual for health care professionals
Manual for community workers
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WHO working group on HIV incidence assays meeting report
10–11 December 2015
Glion, Switzerland
UNAIDS/WHO working group on global HIV/AIDS and STI surveillance
WHO/HIV/2017.03
Global HIV Strategic Information Working Group
These guidelines aim to guide all health care providers in Myanmar, accommodating the situation of different settings in the context of progressive decentralization of HIV services. Notable changes from the previous edition include:
• diagnosis of HIV
• update on the initiation of ART<...br>
• new ARV drugs and regimens
• new recommendation on infant prophylaxis
• PrEP and PEP updates
• updates on co-infections and comorbidities management
It should be noted that these guidelines are meant for the operational level and are adapted and adopted in line with existing Myanmar context.
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Recommendations, resources and references
A publication of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society
Rutstein SE et al. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, 20:21579 http://www.jiasociety.org/index.php/jias/article/view/21579 | http://dx.doi.org/10.7448/IAS.20.1.21579
This report investigates the impact of potential misclassification of samples on HIV prevalence estimates for 23 surveys conducted from 2010-2014. In addition to visual inspection of laboratory results, we examined how accounting for potential misclassification of HIV status through Bayesian latent ...class models affected the prevalence estimates. Two types of Bayesian models were specified: a model that only uses the individual dichotomous test results and a continuous model that uses the quantitative information of the EIA (i.e., the signal-to-cutoff values). Overall, we found that adjusted prevalence estimates matched the surveys’ original results, with overlapping uncertainty intervals. This suggested that misclassification of HIV status should not affect the prevalence estimates in most surveys. However, our analyses suggested that two surveys may be problematic. The prevalence could have been overestimated in the Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey 2011 and the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2013-14, although the magnitude of overestimation remains difficult to ascertain. Interpreting results from the Uganda survey is difficult because of the lack of internal quality control and potential violation of the multivariate normality assumption of the continuous Bayesian latent class model. In conclusion, despite the limitations of our latent class models, our analyses suggest that prevalence estimates from most of the surveys reviewed are not affected by sample misclassification.
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The five hepatitis viruses have different epidemiological profiles, and their impact, duration, and transmission route also vary. The most common transmission routes contributing to the spread of hepatitis are exposure to infected blood via blood transfusion or unsafe injection practices, consumptio...n of contaminated food and drinking water, and transmission from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. Also, unsafe injection practices, including the use of unsterile needles and syringes, serve as a major pathway for the spread of hepatitis B and C, and reducing transmission of both diseases requires addressing these practices.
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Direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized treatment for hepatitis C. Combi-
nations of DAAs can cure infection with HCV in 12 weeks, are highly effective and
have limited side-effects. Affordability of DAAs has improved significantly, but access remains lim-
i...ted. Initially, due to their high prices, affordability of DAAs was limited in high-, middle- and low-
income countries alike. Now there is a divide between those countries where, because of intellectual
property barriers, prices have remained (very) high and other countries where generics are, or can be,
available at much lower prices. The result is a dual market
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