Vietnam (2013): Health seeking behaviors and Tuberculosis (TB) knowledge among people with TB symptoms

In early 2013, PSI conducted a study to assess TB knowledge and health seeking behaviors among individuals with TB symptoms in 2 of the 3 project provinces. The study was designed to achieve the following objectives: (1) Understand health seeking behaviors in general, and related to TB, (2) Assess knowledge levels about TB among individuals at risk, (3) Identify motivations and barriers to seeking TB diagnosis/treatment among individuals at risk, and (4) Assess exposure to TB communications and associations between exposure to social marketing campaign and improved TB knowledge/health seeking behavior. The survey was conducted after approximately 6-9 months of program implementation in the two provinces

Vietnam (2013): TRaC behavioral survey among female sex workers and female sex workers who inject drugs in 7 provinces of Vietnam. Round 3.

The 2012 SW & SW-IDU Behavioral Survey is the third and final round of this survey conducted by the USAID Social Marketing for HIV Prevention Project with USAID/PEPFAR support. Research objectives include to monitor changes in risk reduction behaviors and factors associated with key behavioral indicators over time, as outlined in PMEP, to evaluate correlation between project coverage and changes in key PMEP behavioral and determinant indicators, to provide data/evidence to support the Low Dead S pace (LDS) syringe SM pilot, and to inform total market approach programming. Study respondents were recruited through RDS to facilitate reach of hidden SWs. A structured questionnaire was used, estimated to take 30-45 minutes to complete for each participan

Vietnam (2013): Outlet survey assessing progress toward condom total market approach objectives. Round 3.

The 2013 Outlet Survey was designed to generate updated evidence regarding the total condom market in and around high-risk venues in eight PEPFAR priority provinces covered by the condom social marketing activities. The 2013 Outlet Survey sample included commercial outlets in 8 PEPFAR priority provinces covered by the USAID Social Marketing for HIV Prevention Project as well as complementary harm reduction programs supported by PEPFAR and other funders: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quant Ninh, Nghe An, HCMH, Can Tho and An Giang. In addition data was collected in two non-PEPFAR provinces in 2013: Dong Nai and Thai Nguyen

Vietnam (2013): TRaC study measuring behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM). Round 2.

This is the second and final round of MSM behavioral surveys supported by the USAID Social Marketing for HIV Prevention Project, implemented by PSI Vietnam. The 2011 MSM Behavioral Survey (Round 1) was conducted in 5 provinces: Hanoi, Hai Phong, HCM, Can Tho, and An Giang. Results were used to inform MSM-targeted HIV prevention programming across projects and partners. The FY13 MSM Behavioral Survey is conducted in the same five provinces covered in 2011. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, estimated to take 40-45 minutes to complete. RDSAT was used to adjust estimates

Applying the COM-B behaviour change model to a pilot study delivering volatile pyrethroid spatial repellents and insecticide-treated clothing to forest-exposed populations in Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

BACKGROUND: Southeast Asia is making tremendous progress towards their 2030 malaria elimination goal but needs new interventions to stop forest malaria. This study trials two new vector control tools, a volatile pyrethroid spatial repellent (VPSR) and insecticide-treated clothing (ITC), amongst forest-exposed populations in Mondulkiri Province Cambodia to inform their potential use for eliminating forest malaria. METHODS: 21 forest-exposed individuals were given a questionnaire on their perceptions of malaria and preventive practices used, after which they trialed two products sequentially. Clothes was treated with ITC by the study team. Mixed methods were used to understand their experience, attitudes, and preferences regarding the products trialed. Quantitative data was summarized and qualitative insights were analysed using thematic analysis, applying the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation Behaviour Change (COM-B) model and Behaviour Change Wheel Framework to identify intervention functions to support tailored product rollout amongst these populations. RESULTS: Study participants reported a need for protection from mosquito bites in outdoor and forest-exposed settings and perceived both products trialed to be effective for this purpose. The VPSR product was preferred when travel was not required, whereas ITC was preferred for ease of use when going to the forest, especially in rainy conditions. COM-B analysis identified that key enablers for use of both products included their perceived efficacy and ease of use, which required no skill or preparation. For barriers to use, the odour of ITC was sometimes perceived as being toxic, as well as its inability to protect uncovered skin from mosquito bites, while the perceived usefulness of the VPSR product trialed was limited by its water sensitivity in rainy forest settings. Intervention components to encourage appropriate and sustained use of these products include education about how to use these products and what to expect, persuasion to use them from community leaders and targeted channels, and enablement to facilitate convenient and affordable access. CONCLUSION: The rollout of VPSRs and ITC amongst forest-exposed populations can be useful for eliminating malaria in Southeast Asia. Study findings can be applied to increase product uptake among forest exposed populations in Cambodia, while manufacturers can aim to develop products that are rainproof, easy to use in forest settings, and have favourable odour profiles to target users

Study protocol for development of an options assessment toolkit (OAT) for national malaria programs in Asia Pacific to determine best combinations of vivax radical cure for their given contexts.

IntroductionRecent advances in G6PD deficiency screening and treatment are rapidly changing the landscape of radical cure of vivax malaria available for National Malaria Programs (NMPs). While NMPs await the WHO's global policy guidance on these advances, they will also need to consider different contextual factors related to the vivax burden, health system capacity, and resources available to support changes to their policies and practices. Therefore, we aim to develop an Options Assessment Toolkit (OAT) that enables NMPs to systematically determine optimal radical cure options for their given environments and potentially reduce decision-making delays. This protocol outlines the OAT development process.MethodsUtilizing participatory research methods, the OAT will be developed in four phases where the NMPs and experts will have active roles in designing the research process and the toolkit. In the first phase, an essential list of epidemiological, health system, and political & economic factors will be identified. In the second phase, 2-3 NMPs will be consulted to determine the relative priority and measurability of these factors. These factors and their threshold criteria will be validated with experts using a modified e-Delphi approach. In addition, 4-5 scenarios representing country contexts in the Asia Pacific region will be developed to obtain the expert-recommended radical cure options for each scenario. In the third phase, additional components of OAT, such as policy evaluation criteria, latest information on new radical cure options, and others, will be finalized. The OAT will be pilot-tested with other Asia Pacific NMPs in the final phase.Ethics and disseminationHuman Research Ethics Committee approval has been received from the Northern Territory, Department of Health, and Menzies School of Health Research (HREC Reference Number: 2022-4245). The OAT will be made available for the NMPs, introduced at the APMEN Vivax Working Group annual meeting, and reported in international journals

Study protocol for development of an options assessment toolkit (OAT) for national malaria programs in Asia Pacific to determine best combinations of vivax radical cure for their given contexts

Introduction Recent advances in G6PD deficiency screening and treatment are rapidly changing the landscape of radical cure of vivax malaria available for National Malaria Programs (NMPs). While NMPs await the WHO’s global policy guidance on these advances, they will also need to consider different contextual factors related to the vivax burden, health system capacity, and resources available to support changes to their policies and practices. Therefore, we aim to develop an Options Assessment Toolkit (OAT) that enables NMPs to systematically determine optimal radical cure options for their given environments and potentially reduce decision-making delays. This protocol outlines the OAT development process. Methods Utilizing participatory research methods, the OAT will be developed in four phases where the NMPs and experts will have active roles in designing the research process and the toolkit. In the first phase, an essential list of epidemiological, health system, and political & economic factors will be identified. In the second phase, 2–3 NMPs will be consulted to determine the relative priority and measurability of these factors. These factors and their threshold criteria will be validated with experts using a modified e-Delphi approach. In addition, 4–5 scenarios representing country contexts in the Asia Pacific region will be developed to obtain the expert-recommended radical cure options for each scenario. In the third phase, additional components of OAT, such as policy evaluation criteria, latest information on new radical cure options, and others, will be finalized. The OAT will be pilot-tested with other Asia Pacific NMPs in the final phase. Ethics and dissemination Human Research Ethics Committee approval has been received from the Northern Territory, Department of Health, and Menzies School of Health Research (HREC Reference Number: 2022–4245). The OAT will be made available for the NMPs, introduced at the APMEN Vivax Working Group annual meeting, and reported in international journals

Human Activity Recognition using Channel State Information

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) is a key enabler of various applications, including smart homes, health care, Internet of Things (IoT), and virtual reality games. A large number of HAR systems are based on wearable sensors and computer vision. However, a challenge that has emerged in the last few years entails recognizing human activities using WiFi Channel State Information (CSI). Exiting state-of-the-art solutions have considered only amplitudes of the CSI to recognize human activities, we explore both amplitudes and phase differences to recognize activities. We utilize Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) to generate scalogram images from the CSI measurements. Then, we use these images as input to the pertained Convolution Neural Network (CNN), namely AlexNet to extract features that are resilient to environment changes and classify the activities. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves an accuracy of 98.18% +/- 1.26% using amplitude and phase difference. We also studied the impact of different environments and people, and the results show its robustness