Haematological features in children less than 12 years on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis seen in opportunistic onfection clinics at Harare and Parirenyatwa Teaching Hospitals

A journal article on HIV/AIDS infections in children in Zimbabwe.Paediatric Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection has been growing parallel to the adult pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than two thirds of the people living with HIV in the world. Approximately 90% of children with HIV infection in the world reside in this region. Estimates show that more than 145 000 children were living with HIV in Zimbabwe in 2010[Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, AIDS and TB Unit, Unpublished data]. Maternal to child transmission of HIV accounts for more than 95% of infections in children. Opportunistic infections (OI) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children infected with HIV. These infectious complications are critical indicators of disease progression

Patterns of retinoblastoma in Zimbabwe: 2000-2009

A research study on the high incidence of Retinoblastoma eye diseases among children from poor countries like Zimbabwe between the period 2 000 to 2009 .Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignant tumour of childhood but it remains a rare disease. It occurs more commonly in less affluent regions of the world compared to richer regions. The incidence of retinoblastoma within age group 0-4 years varies from country to country. Africa generally has a higher incidence especially in the sub Saharan Africa region ranging from 10.6 to 42.5cases per million. This is in contrast to developed countries where in the USA, the incidence is 11.8 and in Europe it ranges from 6-12. Bulgaria has the lowest incidence of 3.4 cases per million."' In Zimbabwe the incidence of retinoblastoma is estimated at 23.3 per million ranking 3rd highest in the world after Uganda and Mali

Empirical validation of the UNAIDS Spectrum model for subnational HIV estimates: case-study of children and adults in Manicaland, Zimbabwe

Background: More cost-effective HIV control may be achieved by targeting geographical areas with high infection rates. The AIDS Impact model of Spectrum – used routinely to produce national HIV estimates – could provide the required subnational estimates but is rarely validated with empirical data, even at a national level. Design: The validity of the Spectrum model estimates were compared to empirical estimates. Methods: Antenatal surveillance and population survey data from a population HIV cohort study in Manicaland, east Zimbabwe, were input into Spectrum 5.441 to create a simulation representative of the cohort population. Model and empirical estimates were compared for key demographic and epidemiological outcomes. Alternative scenarios for data availability were examined and sensitivity analyses were conducted for model assumptions considered important for subnational estimates. Results: Spectrum estimates generally agreed with observed data but HIV incidence estimates were higher than empirical estimates while estimates of early age all-cause adult mortality were lower. Child HIV prevalence estimates matched well with the survey prevalence among children. Estimated paternal orphanhood was lower than empirical estimates. Including observations from earlier in the epidemic did not improve the HIV incidence model fit. Migration had little effect on observed discrepancies - possibly because the model ignores differences in HIV prevalence between migrants and residents. Conclusions: The Spectrum model, using subnational surveillance and population data, provided reasonable subnational estimates although some discrepancies were noted. Differences in HIV prevalence between migrants and residents may need to be captured in the model if applied to subnational epidemics

Monitoring of Early Warning Indicators for HIV Drug Resistance in Antiretroviral Therapy Clinics in Zimbabwe

Monitoring human immunodeficiency virus drug resistance (HIVDR) early warning indicators (EWIs) can help national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs to identify clinic factors associated with HIVDR emergence and provide evidence to support national program and clinic-level adjustments, if necessary. World Health Organization-recommended HIVDR EWIs were monitored in Zimbabwe using routinely available data at selected ART clinics between 2007 and 2009. As Zimbabwe's national ART coverage increases, improved ART information systems are required to strengthen routine national ART monitoring and evaluation and facilitate scale-up of HIVDR EWI monitoring. Attention should be paid to minimizing loss to follow-up, supporting adherence, and ensuring clinic-level drug supply continuit

Evaluation of geospatial methods to generate subnational HIV prevalence estimates for local level planning

Objective: There is evidence of substantial subnational variation in the HIV epidemic. However, robust spatial HIV data are often only available at high levels of geographic aggregation and not at the finer resolution needed for decision making. Therefore, spatial analysis methods that leverage available data to provide local estimates of HIV prevalence may be useful. Such methods exist but have not been formally compared when applied to HIV. Design/methods: Six candidate methods – including those used by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS to generate maps and a Bayesian geostatistical approach applied to other diseases – were used to generate maps and subnational estimates of HIV prevalence across three countries using cluster level data from household surveys. Two approaches were used to assess the accuracy of predictions: internal validation, whereby a proportion of input data is held back (test dataset) to challenge predictions; and comparison with location-specific data from household surveys in earlier years. Results: Each of the methods can generate usefully accurate predictions of prevalence at unsampled locations, with the magnitude of the error in predictions similar across approaches. However, the Bayesian geostatistical approach consistently gave marginally the strongest statistical performance across countries and validation procedures. Conclusions: Available methods may be able to furnish estimates of HIV prevalence at finer spatial scales than the data currently allow. The subnational variation revealed can be integrated into planning to ensure responsiveness to the spatial features of the epidemic. The Bayesian geostatistical approach is a promising strategy for integrating HIV data to generate robust local estimates

Within-Gender Changes in HIV Prevalence among Adults between 2005/6 and 2010/11 in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION: Zimbabwe has reported significant declines in HIV prevalence between 2005/06 and 2010/11 Demography and Health Surveys; a within-gender analysis to identify the magnitude and factors associated with this change, which can be masked, is critical for targeting interventions. METHODS: We analyzed change in HIV prevalence for 6,947 women and 5,848 men in the 2005/06 survey and 7,313 women and 6,250 men in 2010/11 surveys using 2005/06 as referent. The data was analyzed taking into consideration the survey design and therefore the svy, mean command in Stata was used in both linear and logistic regression. RESULTS: There were similar proportional declines in prevalence at national level for males (15% p=0.011) and females (16%,p=0.008). However, there were variations in decline by provincial setting, demographic variables of age, educational level and some sexual risk behaviours. In logistic regression analysis, statistically significant declines were observed among men in Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Harare (p<0.01) and for women in Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Harare (p<0.01). Although not statistically significant, numerical increases were observed among men in Matebeleland North, Matebeleland South, Midlands and for both men and women in Bulawayo. Young women in the age range 15-34 experienced a decline in prevalence (p<0.01) while older men 30-44 had a statistically significant decline (p<0.01). Having a secondary and above education, regardless of employment status for both men and women recorded a significant decline. For sexual risk behaviours, currently in union for men and women and not in union for women there was a significant decline in prevalence. CONCLUSION: Zimbabwe has reported a significant decline among both men and women but there are important differentials across provinces, demographic characteristics and sexual risk behaviours that suggest that the epidemic in Zimbabwe is heterogeneous and therefore interventions must be targeted in order to achieve epidemic control

Haematological features in children less than 12 years on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis seen in opportunistic infection clinics at Harare and Parirenyatwa teaching hospitals

No Abstrac

Patterns od Retenoblastoma in Zimbabwe: 2000-2009

No Abstrac

Does nonlocal women's attendance at antenatal clinics distort HIV prevalence surveillance estimates in pregnant women in Zimbabwe?

Objective: The objective was to assess whether HIV prevalence measured among women attending antenatal clinics (ANCs) are representative of prevalence in the local area, or whether estimates may be biased by some women's choice to attend ANCs away from their residential location. We tested the hypothesis that HIV prevalence in towns and periurban areas is underestimated in ANC sentinel surveillance data in Zimbabwe. Methods: National unlinked anonymous HIV surveillance was conducted at 19 ANCs in Zimbabwe in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2012. This data was used to compare HIV prevalence and nonlocal attendance levels at ANCs at city, town, periurban, and rural clinics in aggregate and also for individual ANCs. Results: In 2000, HIV prevalence at town ANCs (36.6%, 95% CI 34.4–38.9%) slightly underestimated prevalence among urban women attending these clinics (40.7%, 95% CI 37.6–43.9%). However, there was no distortion in HIV prevalence at either the aggregate clinic location or at individual clinics in more recent surveillance rounds. HIV prevalence was consistently higher in towns and periurban areas than in rural areas. Nonlocal attendance was high at town (26–39%) and periurban (53–95%) ANCs but low at city clinics (<10%). However, rural women attending ANCs in towns and periurban areas had higher HIV prevalence than rural women attending rural clinics, and were younger, more likely to be single, and less likely to be housewives. Conclusions: : In Zimbabwe, HIV prevalence among ANC attendees provides reliable estimates of HIV prevalence in pregnant women in the local area

Is Zimbabwe ready to transition from anonymous unlinked sero-surveillance to using prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program data for HIV surveillance?: results of PMTCT utility study, 2012

Background: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs collect socio-demographic and HIV testing information similar to that collected by unlinked anonymous testing sero-surveillance (UAT) in antenatal settings. Zimbabwe evaluated the utility of PMTCT data in replacing UAT. Methods: A UAT dataset was created by capturing socio-demographic, testing practices from the woman’s booking-card and testing remnant blood at a laboratory from 1 June to 30 September 2012. PMTCT data were collected retrospectively from ANC registers. UAT and PMTCT data were linked by bar-code labels that were temporarily affixed to the ANC register. A questionnaire was used to obtain facility-level data at 53 sites. Results: Pooled HIV prevalence was 15.8 % (95 % CI 15.3–16.4) among 17,349 women sampled by UAT, and 16.3 % (95 % CI 15.8 %–16.9 %) among 17,150 women in PMTCT datasets for 53 sites. Pooled national percent-positive agreement (PPA) was 91.2 %, and percent-negative agreement (PNA) was 98.7 % for 16,782 women with matched UAT and PMTCT data. Based on UAT methods, overall median prevalence was 12.9 % (Range 4.0 %–19.4 %) among acceptors and refusers of HIV test in PMTCT compared to 12.5 % ((Range 3.4 %–19.5 %) among acceptors in ANC registers. There were variations in prevalence by site. Conclusion: Although, there is no statistical difference between pooled HIV prevalence in UAT compared to PMTCT program, the overall PPA of 91.2 % and PNA of 98.7 % fall below World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmarks of 97.6 % and 99.6 % respectively. Zimbabwe will need to strengthen quality assurance (QA) of rapid HIV testing and data collection practices. Sites with good performance should be prioritised for transitioning.National Research Foundation (South Africa