Effects of information, education, and communication campaign on a community-based health insurance scheme in Burkina Faso

Objective : The study analysed the effect of Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaign activities on the adoption of a community-based health insurance (CHI) scheme in Nouna, Burkina Faso. It also identified the factors that enhanced or limited the campaign's effectiveness. Design : Complementary data collection approaches were used. A survey was conducted with 250 randomly selected household heads, followed by in-depth interviews with 22 purposively selected community leaders, group discussions with the project management team, and field observations. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between household exposure to campaign and acquisition of knowledge as well as household exposure to campaign and enrolment. Results : The IEC campaign had a positive effect on households’ knowledge about the CHI and to a lesser extent on household enrolment in the scheme. The effectiveness of the IEC strategy was mainly influenced by: 1 frequent and consistent IEC messages from multiple media channels (mass and interpersonal channels), including the radio, a mobile information van, and CHI team, and 2 community heads’ participation in the CHI scheme promotion. Education was the only significantly influential socio-demographic determinant of knowledge and enrolment among household heads. The relatively low effects of the IEC campaign on CHI enrolment are indicative of other important IEC mediating factors, which should be taken into account in future CHI campaign evaluation. Conclusion : The study concludes that an IEC campaign is crucial to improving the understanding of the CHI scheme concept, which is an enabler to enrolment, and should be integrated into scheme designs and evaluations

Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Before, During, or After Pregnancy in HIV-1-Infected Women: Maternal Virologic, Immunologic, and Clinical Response

Pregnancy has been associated with a decreased risk of HIV disease progression in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era. The effect of timing of HAART initiation relative to pregnancy on maternal virologic, immunologic and clinical outcomes has not been assessed.We conducted a retrospective cohort study from 1997–2005 among 112 pregnant HIV-infected women who started HAART before (N = 12), during (N = 70) or after pregnancy (N = 30).0.01). There were no statistical differences in rates of HIV disease progression between groups.HAART initiation during pregnancy was associated with better immunologic and virologic responses than initiation after pregnancy

Retroviral coinfections at a New Orleans HIV outpatient clinic

The purpose of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus types I and II(HTLV-I and HTLV-II) infections in an outpatient clinic population of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infected persons as well as to identify the demographic and clinical characteristics and laboratory results associated with HTLV-I/II infections. During 1993-1995, 854 patients were tested for HTLV-I/II infection on entry into the clinic, of whom 25 were infected with HTLV-I and 35 with HTLV-II. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with coinfections were more likely to be black, aged over 35 years, and have a history of injection drug use. HIV-1/HTLV-I coinfections were associated with higher median CD8 counts on entry (p < 0.05), and HIV-1/HTLV-II coinfections were associated with higher median percent CD4 counts (p < 0.05) compared with patients infected with HIV only. Coinfection was not associated with an increased diagnosis of AIDS. These findings indicate that HIV-1/HTLV-I/II coinfections are frequently diagnosed and are associated with unique immune phenotypes. Given the lack of information regarding the influence of dual infection on clinical status, differentiation of HTLV-I from HTLV-II infections may be important in understanding the clinical significance of retroviral coinfections

The determination of Ti2O3 in titania slags: a comparison of different methods of analysis

International audienceNine titania slags, consisting mostly of ferropseudobrookite (denoted as M3O5), were investigated with the aim of evaluating various methods to estimate their Ti2O3 content. Direct methods include the determination of the Ti3z content using chemical titration and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Ti K edge. Indirect determinations of the Ti2O3 content are based on the bulk chemical composition analysed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and the analysis of pseudobrookite cell parameters using X-ray diffraction. It was found that the use of bulk chemistry, the FeO contents, as well as the a unit cell dimensions of the M3O5 phase give acceptable estimates, provided that the slags are not oxidised on cooling to room temperature. Only the direct XAS and titration methods determine the actual Ti3z or Ti2O3 contents and are not influenced by the degree of oxidation of the slags. The XAS results provide a valuable independent validation of the titration method. It is concluded that the titration method is still the most practical and reliable method for estimating Ti3z contents