Knowledge Regarding HIV/AIDS among Nepalese Army

Introduction: A global pandemic threat HIV/AIDS is also matter of concern of developing countries like Nepal where the first case was identified in July 1988 and later became epidemic and then concentrated epidemic among risk group for HIV. Several studies reflected HIV is associated to many factors, Literacy and Socio-economic conditions being at the highest rank. Members of Nepal army are generally with less educational background and few with higher educational status are at higher post. Thus knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among this group need to be assessed. Aims: The overall objective of our study was to assess knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among Nepal army in Banke district. Methods: A Cross-sectional descriptive study with population size of 146 Army was performed which covered the entire population of Shree Shreemehar Army Camp in Banke, starting from 18th June to 27th August, 2018. A pre-tested questionnaire containing structural, semi-structural and open ended questions were made as data collection tool. All the soldiers in Army camp were interviewed after receiving consent as an ethical clearance. Results: All 146 Army of our study were aware about HIV/AIDS mainly via mass media (83.56%). 33 respondents still didn’t know about availability of its treatment. Misconception about its complete cure and vaccination was seen in 12 and 39 respondents respectively. 58 respondents were found knowing about the free health services by government. 141 respondents knew certain things about prevention. 28 respondents admitted of having multiple sex partners and only 24 among them used preventive measure. Conclusion: Though all the respondents of our study had known about HIV/AIDS still they had misconception regarding its treatment and prevention. Many respondents do not even know about the free health services of government. Few of them still don’t use preventive measure.

The Cost-Effectiveness of HIV/STI Prevention in High-Income Countries with Concentrated Epidemic Settings: A Scoping Review

The purpose of this scoping review is to establish the state of the art on economic evaluations in the field of HIV/STI prevention in high-income countries with concentrated epidemic settings and to assess what we know about the cost-effectiveness of different measures. We reviewed economic evaluations of HIV/STI prevention measures published in the Web of Science and Cost-Effectiveness Registry databases. We included a total of 157 studies focusing on structural, behavioural, and biomedical interventions, covering a variety of contexts, target populations and approaches. The majority of studies are based on mathematical modelling and demonstrate that the preventive measures under scrutiny are cost-effective. Interventions targeted at high-risk populations yield the most favourable results. The generalisability and transferability of the study results are limited due to the heterogeneity of the populations, settings and methods involved. Furthermore, the results depend heavily on modelling assumptions. Since evidence is unequally distributed, we discuss implications for future research.

HIV Phylogenetics Reveals Overlapping Transmission Networks among Cities and Key Populations in Pakistan

The first case of HIV in Pakistan was documented in 1987, with multiple subtypes and circulating recombinant forms being introduced and currently circulating in the country. Since then, there has been a shift in the country from a low prevalence/high-risk to a high-risk concentrated epidemic. Pakistan's epidemic is concentrated among key populations at greater risk of HIV infection including people who inject drugs (PWID), Hijra sex workers (HSW), female sex workers (FSW), male sex workers (MSW), and men who have sex with men (MSM). This study focused on the geographical aspect as well as on the interactions between key populations at higher risk of contracting HIV. We aimed at understanding the behavior of these key populations at a molecular level with high granularity as well as investigating the possibility of multiple HIV-1 introductions in Pakistan. In this cross-sectional biological and behavioral survey, we collected dried blood spots (DBS) for the purposes of seroprevalence estimates and molecular epidemiology from individuals in 17 cities in Pakistan representing four key populations: PWID, HSW, MSW, and FSW. A total of 1153 envelope sequences (reference positions in HXB2: 7860-8274) of HIV were sequenced using a Sanger-based sequencing approach. To identify clusters based on the introduction of the virus in Pakistan from foreign countries we added 3623 publicly available HIV envelope sequences to our dataset. Phylogeographic inference suggests at least 15 independent introductions of the virus into Pakistan, with a total of 12 clusters ranging from 3 to 675 sequences in size containing sequences from Pakistan and neighboring countries exclusively. Our phylogenetic analysis shows a significant degree of connectivity and directionality suggesting broad and overlapping networks of HIV-1 transmission among cities and key populations in Pakistan.

Experience Of Female's Sex Workers Who Are Infected By HIV / AIDS In Buleleng Regency: A Phenomenology Study

Indonesia is still in a position of the concentrated epidemic, where female sex workers are still one of the risk populations that are very vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. The process of accepting and living experience of infected female sex workers becomes very important so that the quality of life is better. Buleleng is one of the districts in Bali with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS by sex workers. The purpose of this study was to determine the life experiences of sex workers when infected with HIV/AIDS in Buleleng Regency. Quality research methods with a phenomenological approach. Participants numbered 5 participants, with 4 sex workers who were infected with HIV/AIDS and 1 holder of an HIV service program at the Sawan Health Center. The sampling technique used purposive sampling with instruments in the form of interview guidelines. Data collection techniques by conducting in-depth interviews. Then the results are analyzed by transcribing and compiling a theme. The results found five major themes, namely risk factors for infection, self-response, social response after infection, condom use behavior, and health insurance with ARV adherence. The conclusion is that more sex workers do not want to disclose their HIV status, then there are still many sex workers who do not have health insurance so that it leads to non-adherence with treatment.

Knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among Armed Police Force – Banke, Nepal

Background: A global pandemic threat HIV/AIDS is a matter of concern for developing countries like Nepal. The first case was identified in July 1988 and later became epidemic and then concentrated epidemic among risk group for HIV. Several studies reflected that HIV is associated with many factors among which literacy rate and socio-economic conditions hold the highest rank. Armed Police Force of Nepal are generally with less educational background and very few with higher educational status are at higher level. Thus knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among this group needs to be assessed. Objectives: The overall objective of our study was to assess knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among Armed Police Force in Banke, Nepal. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study with population size of 295 Armed Police Force was performed which covered the entire population of an Armed Police Force camp in Banke starting from 18th June to 27th July, 2018. A pretested questionnaire containing structural, semi-structural and open ended questions were made as data collection tool. All the soldiers in Armed Police Force camp were interviewed after receiving consent as an ethical clearance. Results: All 295 armed police forces of our study were aware about HIV/AIDS mainly via mass media (83%). One hundred and fifty eight respondents still did not know about availability of its treatment. Misconception about its complete cure and vaccination was seen in 23 (7.79%) and 61 (20.67%) respondents respectively. Two hundred and one respondents were found knowing about the free health services by government. 287 (97.28%) respondents knew certain things about prevention. Twenty four respondents admitted of having multiple sex partners and only 19 (79.16%) among them used preventive measure. Conclusion: Though all the respondents of our study had known about HIV/AIDS, still they had misconception regarding its treatment and prevention. Many respondents did not even know about the free health services of government. Few of them still do not use any preventive measure.

Provider initiative test and counseling (PITC) sebagai upaya perluasan tes HIV pada populasi khusus

Latar belakang: Prevalensi HIV di Kota Kendari, Sulawesi Tenggara terus meningkat dan menyebar hingga di populasi ibu rumah tangga. Dalam 7 tahun terakhir 21.6 % pasien HIV adalah ibu rumah tangga. Meski masih dalam level concentrated epidemic, angka ini telah menunjukkan meluasnya infeksi HIV pada masyarakat umum dan terlambatnya upaya pengendalian. Tes HIV sukarela untuk diagnosa tidak sebanding dengan laju epidemi HIV yang sangat cepat. PITC menjadi pilihan untuk menemukan sebanyak mungkin orang yang telah terinfeksi HIV pada populasi khusus dan memfasilitasi mereka untuk mendapatkan perawatan, dukungan dan pengobatan (PDP). Tujuan: Mengevaluasi input, proses dan output layanan PITC dalam meningkatkan jumlah orang di populasi khusus yang dites HIV dan mengetahui hasilnya. Hasil: Sasaran program adalah populasi khusus yang terdiri dari ibu hamil dan pasien dengan penyakit terkait HIV yang berkunjung ke puskesmas atau berada di wilayah kerja puskesmas yang mendapat pelayanan di posyandu atau kunjungan rumah pada 13 wilayah kerja puskesmas di Kota Kendari. Kegiatan meliputi: pemberian informasi tentang HIV, penawaran tes, tes HIV, penyampaian hasil tes dan konseling serta rujukan ke PDP jika hasil HIV positif. Pelaksana PITC adalah tim yang terdiri dari dokter, perawat, bidan, laboran dan Petugas RR. Simpulan: Terjadi peningkatan yang signifikan pada jumlah orang yang dites HIV dan mengetahui hasilnya melalui PITC di 15 puskesmas di Kota Kendari.