Monisha Sharma

Systematic review and meta-analysis of community and facility-based HIV testing to address linkage to care gaps in sub-Saharan Africa

HIV testing and counselling is the first crucial step for linkage to HIV treatment and prevention. However, despite high HIV burden in sub-Saharan Africa, testing coverage is low, particularly among young adults and men. Community-based HIV testing and counselling (testing outside of health facilities) has the potential to reduce coverage gaps, but the relative impact of different modalities is not well assessed. We conducted a systematic review of HIV testing modalities, characterizing community (home, mobile, index, key populations, campaign, workplace and self-testing) and facility approaches by population reached, HIV positivity, CD4 count at diagnosis and linkage. Of 2,520 abstracts screened, 126 met eligibility criteria. Community HIV testing and counselling had high coverage and uptake and identified HIV-positive people at higher CD4 counts than facility testing. Mobile HIV testing reached the highest proportion of men of all modalities examined (50%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 47–54%) and home with self-testing reached the highest proportion of young adults (66%, 95% CI = 65–67%). Few studies evaluated HIV testing for key populations (commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men), but these interventions yielded high HIV positivity (38%, 95% CI = 19–62%) combined with the highest proportion of first-time testers (78%, 95% CI = 63–88%), indicating service gaps. Community testing with facilitated linkage (for example, counsellor follow-up to support linkage) achieved high linkage to care (95%, 95% CI = 87–98%) and antiretroviral initiation (75%, 95% CI = 68–82%). Expanding home and mobile testing, self-testing and outreach to key populations with facilitated linkage can increase the proportion of men, young adults and high-risk individuals linked to HIV treatment and prevention, and decrease HIV burden.This article has not been written or reviewed by Nature editors. Nature accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided.

An Updated Natural History Model of Cervical Cancer: Derivation of Model Parameters

Mathematical models of cervical cancer have been widely used to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of preventive strategies. Major advances in the understanding of cervical carcinogenesis motivate the creation of a new disease paradigm in such models. To keep pace with the most recent evidence, we updated a previously developed microsimulation model of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer to reflect 1) a shift towards health states based on HPV rather than poorly reproducible histological diagnoses and 2) HPV clearance and progression to precancer as a function of infection duration and genotype, as derived from the control arm of the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial (2004-2010). The model was calibrated leveraging empirical data from the New Mexico Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registry (1980-1999) and a state-of-the-art cervical cancer screening registry in New Mexico (2007-2009). The calibrated model had good correspondence with data on genotype- and age-specific HPV prevalence, genotype frequency in precancer and cancer, and age-specific cancer incidence. We present this model in response to a call for new natural history models of cervical cancer intended for decision analysis and economic evaluation at a time when global cervical cancer prevention policy continues to evolve and evidence of the long-term health effects of cervical interventions remains critical.

Cost-effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis targeted to high-risk serodiscordant couples as a bridge to sustained ART use in Kampala, Uganda

Despite scale‐up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for treating HIV‐positive persons, HIV incidence remains elevated among those at high risk such as persons in serodiscordant partnerships. Antiretrovirals taken by HIV‐negative persons as pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has the potential to avert infections in individuals in serodiscordant partnerships. Evaluating the cost‐effectiveness of implementing time‐limited PrEP as a short‐term bridge during the first six months of ART for the HIV‐positive partner to prevent HIV transmission compared to increasing ART coverage is crucial to informing policy‐makers considering PrEP implementation.

An extended cost-effectiveness analysis of publicly financed HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer in China.

INTRODUCTION Cervical cancer screening and existing health insurance schemes in China fall short of reaching women with prevention and treatment services, especially in rural areas where the disease burden is greatest. We conducted an extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to evaluate public financing of HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer, adding new dimensions to conventional cost-effectiveness analysis through an explicit inclusion of equity and impact on financial risk protection. METHODS We synthesized available epidemiological, clinical, and economic data from China using an individual-based Monte Carlo simulation model of cervical cancer to estimate the distribution of deaths averted by income quintile, comparing vaccination plus screening against current practice. We also estimated reductions in cervical cancer incidence, net costs to the government (HPV vaccination costs minus cervical cancer treatment costs averted), and patient cost savings, as well as the incremental government health care costs per death averted. RESULTS HPV vaccination is cost-effective across all income groups when the cost is less than US

Resources Required for Cervical Cancer Prevention in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

50 per vaccinated girl. Compared to screening alone, adding preadolescent HPV vaccination followed by cervical cancer screening in adulthood could reduce cancer by 44 percent across all income groups, while providing relatively higher financial protection to the poorest women. The absolute numbers of cervical cancer deaths averted and the financial risk protection from HPV vaccination are highest among women in the lowest quintile; women in the bottom income quintiles received higher benefits than those in the upper wealth quintiles. Patient cost savings represent a large proportion of poor womens average per capita income, reaching 60 percent among women in the bottom income quintile and declining to 15 percent among women in the wealthiest quintile.

Using HPV prevalence to predict cervical cancer incidence

Background Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women, with 85% of cases and deaths occurring in developing countries. While organized screening programs have reduced cervical cancer incidence in high-income countries through detection and treatment of precancerous lesions, the implementation of organized screening has not been effective in low-resource settings due to lack of infrastructure and limited budgets. Our objective was to estimate the cost of comprehensive primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention in low- and middle-income countries. Methods and Findings We performed a modeling analysis to estimate 1) for girls aged 10 years, the cost of 2-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination; and 2) for women aged 30 to 49 years, the cost of cervical cancer screening (with visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), HPV testing, or cytology) and preventive treatment in 102 low- and middle-income countries from 2015 to 2024. We used an Excel-based costing and service utilization model to estimate financial costs (2013 US

Home-Based HIV Testing Among Pregnant Couples Increases Partner Testing and Identification of Serodiscordant Partnerships.

) based on prevalence of HPV, prevalence of precancerous lesions, and screening test performance. Where epidemiologic data were unavailable, we extrapolated from settings with data using an individual-based microsimulation model of cervical carcinogenesis (calibrated to 20 settings) and multivariate regression. Total HPV vaccination costs ranged from US

Community-based strategies to strengthen men’s engagement in the HIV care cascade in sub-Saharan Africa

8.6 billion to US

Home testing and counselling to reduce HIV incidence in a generalised epidemic setting: a mathematical modelling analysis

24.2 billion for all scenarios considered (immediate, 5-year, or 10-year roll-out; price per dose US

Inflammatory Biomarkers Predict Domain-Specific Cognitive Decline in Older Adults

4.55-US