Current HIV/AIDS Reports最新文献

Purpose of review: As advances in antiretroviral therapy for people with HIV (PWH) have prolonged lifespans, prevalence of aging and obesity related metabolic disorders have increased. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent research assessing sex differences in metabolic disorders among PWH, including weight gain/obesity, steatotic liver disease, insulin resistance/diabetes, dyslipidemia, bone loss/osteoporosis, and sarcopenia.

Recent findings: A growing body of evidence shows that women with HIV are at increased risk of developing metabolic disorders compared to men, including body weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, bone loss, and sarcopenia, while men with HIV are at higher risk for hepatosteatosis and hepatic fibrosis. Future work should prioritize the adequate representation of women in HIV clinical studies. Understanding sex-specific mechanisms underlying metabolic dysfunction in PWH is imperative so that interventions can be developed to address a growing global epidemic of metabolic diseases.

Purpose of review: This review assesses recent developments in community access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). It examines literature on differentiated service delivery (DSD) and alternative delivery modes for PrEP, focusing on the role of community pharmacies and novel pick-up points. Key considerations include barriers to access, potential benefits, and strategies for implementation.

Recent findings: Challenges to optimal HIV healthcare delivery persist globally, with LMICs facing greater barriers due to resource constraints and structural obstacles. Community pharmacies and novel pick-up points offer promising avenues to expand access to HIV medication, especially in hard-to-reach populations. However, operational complexities and regulatory frameworks present significant challenges. Recent initiatives, such as collaborative practice agreements and programmes by global health agencies, highlight efforts to integrate community pharmacies into HIV prevention and care delivery. Mobile health clinics and home delivery services have also shown promise in improving treatment coverage. Community pharmacies and novel pick-up points play a crucial role in enhancing access to HIV PrEP in LMICs. Despite challenges related to infrastructure, funding, and regulatory oversight, innovative strategies like DSD and mobile outreach offer opportunities to reach marginalized populations. Real-life examples from LMICs demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of leveraging community pharmacies for HIV treatment. However, addressing policy gaps, strengthening pharmacist training, and promoting patient-centred approaches are essential for scaling up access to PrEP. Collaboration between governments, health agencies, and local communities is key to realizing the full potential of community pharmacies in HIV prevention and care.

Purpose of review: The incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI) continues to rise particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM). Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP) has emerged as a promising biomedical prevention strategy. This review aims to summarize the results of recent studies, highlight the current normative guidance on the use of doxy-PEP, and discuss remaining questions.

Recent findings: In the past decade, there have been four randomized controlled trials and three real-world analyses of doxy-PEP, which consistently demonstrated a reduction in Chlamydia trachomatis and Treponema pallidum infections among MSM. Questions remain regarding the efficacy of doxy-PEP for Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection and among cisgender women. Possible detrimental impacts include an increase in antimicrobial resistance as well as alterations to the gut microbiome Doxy-PEP is an effective strategy for preventing Chlamydia trachomatis and Treponema pallidum among MSM. Further work is needed to investigate the benefits among other populations, as well as to monitor for adverse effects.

Purpose of review: Adherence-concentration-efficacy benchmarks have not been fully characterized for cisgender women using emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) oral daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.

Recent findings: We conducted a systematic review to investigate current evidence on the adherence-concentration-efficacy relationship of tenofovir-diphosphate (TFV-DP) derived from FTC/TDF PrEP in dried blood spots (DBS) and peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMC) in cisgender women without HIV, including during pregnancy. We searched for completed and ongoing studies published before May 2024 in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and clinicaltrial.gov.  Overall, 11 studies assessing adherence benchmarks focusing on (n = 5) or involving (n = 6) cisgender women were included. Women-specific median steady-state TFV-DP concentration for daily dosing ranged from 17 to 51 fmol/10⁶ in PBMC and 1389 to 1685 fmol/punch in DBS in non-pregnant women; 50 to 71 fmol/10⁶ in PBMC and 583 to 965 fmol/punch in DBS in pregnant women; and 618 to 1406 fmol/punch in DBS in postpartum women. DBS TFV-DP levels were 14-43% lower in pregnancy versus postpartum or non-pregnant periods, but PBMC TFV-DP levels appear to be comparable. Clinical and modeling studies demonstrate effective HIV protection for women taking at least four doses/week of oral TDF-based PrEP, and emerging evidence suggests that systemic drug levels are more likely to be predictive of efficacy than local tissue levels at the site of exposure. The preponderance of emerging evidence points to comparable efficacy and similar adherence requirement for women as men among those with detectable drug levels, although there was an indication that the highest achievable efficacy may be reached at a lower adherence level in men than women. In this review, we found evidence that women-specific TFV-DP adherence benchmarks in DBS and PBMC are within range of US-based historical thresholds derived from healthy men and women. Emerging evidence suggests that imperfect but adequate adherence to oral FTC/TDF PrEP with at least four doses/week provides sufficient HIV protection in cisgender women as it does in MSM, but more data are still needed to refine intrinsic achievable efficacy estimates for cisgender women.

Purpose of review: Despite the growing availability of oral PrEP, coverage remains suboptimal. Through the introduction of additional PrEP methods, including vaginal rings and long-acting injectable formulations, health systems globally are on the cusp of offering PrEP methods that vary by route of administration, efficacy, and frequency of use. With PrEP choice, it will be important to explore PrEP use patterns to better understand how the ability to choose and switch products affects coverage and continuation. In this review, we draw parallels with family planning (FP) by summarizing how method choice and product switching affected contraceptive coverage globally, synthesize what is known about PrEP product switching, and outline evidence gaps to help guide future research on PrEP switching in the context of choice.

Recent findings: Decades of research in FP has demonstrated that product switching is common and can lead to more satisfaction and increases in contraceptive use. While research on PrEP product switching is nascent, findings suggest switching is common, and that providing more than one PrEP option can increase coverage. Key evidence gaps include understanding product switching in the context of full versus constrained choice, switching in the context of temporary need, and developing interventions that promote product switching for those who could benefit. Providing choice and allowing people to start, stop, and switch products according to their needs and desires is a core component of a rights-based approach to HIV prevention. More research is needed to better understand what drives use patterns, including switching, and how to leverage choice to improve coverage. Standard definitions -some of which have been proposed in this review-are needed to inform comparable measurement. Finally, there is a need to holistically frame PrEP use to acknowledge changes in need over the life course, thus making method switching a standard part of HIV prevention.

Purpose of review: This review summarizes differentiated service delivery (DSD) models for HIV treatment and prevention that have been adapted for maintaining continuity of services during the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes strategies for sustaining their benefits now and during future disruptions.

Recent findings: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an overburdened and disrupted health system, forcing countries to adopt and/or scale up DSD models for HIV services. While initially implemented as emergency measures, these models evolved and were refined over time to fit recipient needs ensuring continued HIV treatment and prevention services with minimal health system impact. Successful models employed task shifting, community-based delivery models, multimonth scripting and dispensing, and telehealth for remote consultation. DSD models enabled HIV services globally to be maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though these models and adaptations were critical in addressing health gaps and disruptions caused by the pandemic, they were beneficial in improving efficiency and access to client-centered services and should be sustained.

Purpose of review: We systematically reviewed implementation research conducted in Indigenous communities in the Americas and the Pacific that focused on improving delivery of HIV preventive or treatment services. We highlight strengths and opportunities in the literature and outline principles for Indigenous-led, HIV-related implementation science.

Recent findings: We identified 31 studies, revealing a consistent emphasis on cultural tailoring of services to Indigenous communities. Common barriers to implementation included stigma, geographic limitations, confidentiality concerns, language barriers, and mistrust. Community involvement in intervention development and delivery emerged as a key facilitator, and nearly half of the studies used community-based participatory research methods. While behavioral HIV prevention, especially among Indigenous youth, was a major focus, there was limited research on biomedical HIV prevention and treatment. No randomized implementation trials were identified. The findings underscore the importance of community engagement, the need for interventions developed within Indigenous communities rather than merely adapted, and the value of addressing the social determinants of implementation success. Aligned to these principles, an indigenized implementation science could enhance the acceptability and reach of critical HIV preventive and treatment services in Indigenous communities while also honoring their knowledge, wisdom, and strength.

Background: Racial inequities in HIV in the United States (US) are pervasive. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is one of the most effective yet underutilized HIV prevention strategies, and stark inequities in PrEP uptake exist. Lack of access to PrEP clinics is a major barrier to access that could be overcome by integrating pharmacists into the provision of PrEP services including prescribing and dispensing.

Methods: A number of reviews have shown promise in folding pharmacies into the expansion of PrEP services, but this review extends those by examining the implementation science evidence of pharmacist-led PrEP services in the US. We reviewed literature over the past five years of the implementation science of pharmacist PrEP services (2018-2023) and present seminal findings in this area.

Results: Only two studies are anchored within an implementation science framework despite all studies assessing common implementation science constructs. Overwhelming evidence supports feasibility and adoption of PrEP services in pharmacies yet gaps in workflow integration, scalability and sustainability exist.

Conclusion: Continuing to build the implementation science evidence of pharmacy-based PrEP services is critical to standardize our measures across varying contexts and inform policy efforts that support pharmacy-based PrEP services.

Purpose of review: Big Data Science can be used to pragmatically guide the allocation of resources within the context of national HIV programs and inform priorities for intervention. In this review, we discuss the importance of grounding Big Data Science in the principles of equity and social justice to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of the global HIV response.

Recent findings: Social, ethical, and legal considerations of Big Data Science have been identified in the context of HIV research. However, efforts to mitigate these challenges have been limited. Consequences include disciplinary silos within the field of HIV, a lack of meaningful engagement and ownership with and by communities, and potential misinterpretation or misappropriation of analyses that could further exacerbate health inequities. Big Data Science can support the HIV response by helping to identify gaps in previously undiscovered or understudied pathways to HIV acquisition and onward transmission, including the consequences for health outcomes and associated comorbidities. However, in the absence of a guiding framework for equity, alongside meaningful collaboration with communities through balanced partnerships, a reliance on big data could continue to reinforce inequities within and across marginalized populations.

Purpose of review: Expanding access to HIV testing services and linking newly diagnosed positive adolescents to antiretroviral therapy is critical to epidemic control. However, testing coverage and treatment initiation rates continue to lag behind adult counterparts. This article synthesizes evidence on facilitative policies and service delivery practices focused on adolescents to inform programming.

Recent findings: Our narrative review found that national policies are growing more adolescent-inclusive but barriers around the age of consent, waiver frameworks and dissemination constrain translate into practice. Facility-based provider-initiated testing through integrated sexual health services and dedicated youth centres demonstrates uptake effectiveness if confidentiality and youth-friendly adaptations are assured. Supportive policies, youth-responsive adaptations across testing models and strengthening age-disaggregated monitoring are vital to improving adolescents' engagement across the HIV testing and treatment cascade. Further implementation research is imperative to expand the reach of adolescent HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa.