Young people in HIV care in Ukraine: a national survey on characteristics and service provision

Background: Ukraine’s perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) young people are ageing into adolescence/young adulthood and, alongside those with behaviourally-acquired infections (BHIV), require transitional and other support services. We aimed to map this population and policies/service provision at specialist HIV centres, to inform future service development. Methods: A national survey was conducted of 28 HIV/AIDS centres on number, characteristics (age group, HIV acquisition mode) and care setting (paediatric/adult) of 10-24 year olds in HIV care in each of 24 regions in January 2016. Information was collected on policies/service provision at each centre. Results: Of 13,286 young people aged 10-24 years registered for HIV care nationally in Ukraine in January 2016, 1,675 were aged 10-18 years. Three-quarters of ≤19 year olds were PHIV, while 72% of 20-24-year-olds had sexually-acquired infection. Five regions accounted for two-thirds of 10-18 year olds in paediatric and 85% of 19-24 year olds in adult services. In 2015, 97 young people transitioned from paediatric to adult services nationally, typically at 18 years although with flexibility in timing at 17/28 centres. At 27/28 centres, BHIV young people aged <18 years began their HIV care in paediatric services sometimes (5) or always (22). Transition support most commonly consisted of a joint appointment with paediatrician and adult doctor, and support from a psychologist/social worker (both at 24/28 centres). Only 5/28 centres offered routine HIV care during the evening or weekend, and availability of integrated sexual/reproductive health and harm reduction services was uneven. Of 16/28 centres selectively following-up patients who did not attend for care, 15 targeted patients in paediatric services. Conclusions: Heterogeneity in the population and in service availability at the main regional/municipal HIV/AIDS centres has implications for potential structural barriers to HIV care, and development of services for this group.

Institute for Advanced Study, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology – A Brief Status Report

The Institute was founded in 2006 by Paul Chu as the founding director. Since January 2011, Henry Tye from Cornell University has been its director. Instead of modeling after Princeton IAS, the Institute is now closer in spirit and structure to KITP in UCSB and Hoover Institution at Stanford, as an integral part of the university, yet with its own identity and recognition. Recruitment of IAS professors is actively underway. Each IAS professor will hold a joint appointment with a department in HKUST. We are optimistic to have the first appointments on board in 2013 when the new IAS building will be completed for moving in.

From Gibbsian Thermodynamics to Electronic Structure: Nonempirical Studies of Alloy Phase Equilibria

The following is an edited version of the David Turnbull Lectureship address, given by recipient Didier R. de Fontaine at the 1995 MRS Fall Meeting, De Fontaine received the lectureship “in recognition of fundamental contributions and insights in the fields of order/disorder phenomena in materials and computational techniques for phase diagrams.” De Fontaine is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering at the University of California—Berkeley and holds a joint appointment with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The Role of the Consultant Psychiatrist in Mental Handicap: A Personal View

Since taking the decision to pursue a career in mental handicap, I have been increasingly aware of the debate surrounding the role of the consultant psychiatrist in this field. Nowhere else in medicine does there seem to be such uncertainty about the continued need for an already established specialty. I believe that one of the major reasons for the continued difficulty in attracting trainees into mental handicap is precisely this uncertainty about its future, which is in no way ameliorated by the College's view that a full time specialist appointment in the psychiatry of mental handicap is not superior to a joint appointment either with adult or child psychiatry.1