Disability disproportionally impacts people living with HIV (PLWH). The burden and determinants of disability among PLWH in Asia have not been well studied.
We conducted a multi-country observational cross-sectional study in five cities in Asia involving PLWH and age- and sex-matched controls living without HIV from March 2020 to November 2023. We compared the prevalence of disability (measured by World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0, WHODAS 2.0) between PLWH and controls, and determined the association between living with HIV and disability using multivariable logistic regression and mediation analysis.
A total of 1004 PLWH and 416 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled. PLWH (mean age 53.6 ± 10.3 years, 84.4% male, 72.2% ≥1 comorbidities) had a higher Charlson Comorbidity Index, more depression, anxiety, stress, social isolation and loneliness, and poorer cognitive performance.
The prevalence of disability was 50.9% among PLWH and 40.6% among controls (p<0.001). PLWH had significantly higher WHODAS 2.0 complex score, and significantly more PLWH had impairments in all of the six domains of disability. The presence of disability correlated with living with HIV after adjusting for demographic characteristics, physical health parameters and cognition, but not after adjusting for socio-behavioural variables and mental health parameters. Mediation analysis showed that living with HIV had a significant indirect effect on disability mediated by social isolation, mental health disorders and poor cognitive performance.
PLWH in Asia had a higher burden of disability as compared with matched controls. The effect of living with HIV on disability was mediated by social isolation, mental health disorders and impaired cognition. Future work should be directed to developing interventions that mitigate these conditions with the goal of reducing disability among PLWH.
Achieving and maintaining viral suppression (VS) during pregnancy and breastfeeding is central to preventing vertical transmission and optimizing maternal health. High rates of VS have been demonstrated among adult and paediatric populations receiving tenofovir-lamivudine-dolutegravir (TLD), but VS and viraemia among pregnant and postpartum women with HIV (WHIV) in high-burden settings have not been well-documented.
Between September 2021 and December 2023, pregnant WHIV, ≤18 weeks gestation, were enrolled in antenatal care (ANC) and followed postpartum in Cape Town, South Africa. WHIV received HIV care in routine health services and continued, switched to or initiated TLD at ANC entry. VS was defined as viral load (VL) <50 copies/ml; viraemic episodes (VEs) were categorized as major (>1000 copies/ml) or minor (50−1000 copies/ml). Mixed-effects Poisson regression models were fit to assess factors associated with major VE risk.
Among 763 WHIV with ≥1 VL, median age was 30 years (interquartile range [IQR] 25−34) and median gestation was 14 weeks at enrolment (IQR 11−17); 89% were on antiretroviral therapy, including 74% on TLD. Overall 99% achieved ≥1 VL<50 copies/ml: 73% sustained VS through 48 weeks postpartum, with 16% having ≥1 minor VE and 15% ≥1 major VE. At enrolment, 77% of VL measures were <50 copies/ml, increasing to >90% during pregnancy through 12 weeks postpartum and declining to 81% by 24 weeks postpartum. In multivariable analysis, each additional year of age conferred a 6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.89, 0.98, p = 0.006) lower risk of subsequent major VE after achieving VS. WHIV with viraemia (50−1000 copies/ml) at enrolment were 3.6 (95% CI 1.94, 6.70, p<0.001) times more likely to have a subsequent major VE, whereas CD4+>500 cells/mm lowered major VE risk by 53% (95% CI 0.32, 0.89, p = 0.016).
High rates of VS were maintained during pregnancy and early postpartum, but substantial viraemia emerged by 24 weeks postpartum, jeopardizing maternal and child health outcomes. These unique data provide further impetus to explore innovative approaches to supporting adherence among WHIV during the postpartum period.
Retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a prerequisite for adherence and subsequent treatment success. Measuring retention is also easily implementable at facility and population levels, making it pragmatic to monitor ART programme success. However, despite its ubiquitous global use, there is little consistency in the measurement of retention.
This study retrospectively applied six measures of retention to one cohort of adults (initiating ART after 01-09-2016, with ≥1 year of observation time to database closure on 30-09-2022), in a low-resource, high HIV-burden setting in South Africa. Using routine healthcare data from the Western Cape's Provincial Health Data Centre, loss to follow-up (LTFU), fixed-point retention, visit constancy, visit gaps, treatment interruptions and medication possession ratio (MPR) were described over 5 years from initiation. Individuals were considered “continuously retained” if they did not experience attrition throughout their observed follow-up. Measures were compared using the proportion misassigned and Cohen's Kappa statistic.
The median age of the cohort (n = 68,888) was 31 years (interquartile range [IQR] 26–38) at initiation, with 69% (47,631/68,888) female, and a median observed follow-up of 4 years (IQR 3–5). Across different measures, retention was low, and declined over time. There was variable overlap; the proportion continuously retained throughout their observed follow-up ranged from 60% (41,268/68,888 not LTFU) to 32% (22,381/68,888 MPR ≥80%). Retention by all measures was strongly associated with viral suppression.
By all measures, large proportions of people in this setting were considered out of ART care during 5 years of observed follow-up time from initiation. This makes retention a critical target for intervention to improve population-level viral suppression and achieve epidemic control. Measuring longitudinal retention revealed that most people disengaged from ART care at some point after initiation. Certain measures of retention (e.g. treatment interruptions) identified people in and out of care with more granularity, whereas blunter measures (e.g. LTFU) misassigned individuals’ retention status and missed patterns of retention over time as people cycled in and out of care between points of measurement. Ultimately, the choice of measure depends on the purpose of the evaluation and on the data available, b
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cervical and anal cancers disproportionately affect people with HIV (PWH). This study aimed to determine the incidence trends of and risk factors for these malignancies in PWH in Latin America.
We included PWH from the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology (CCASAnet) who contributed person-time between 2000 and 2019. We calculated crude and age-standardized incidence rates, examining trends over time with Poisson regression. Adjusted hazard ratios were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models with propensity score adjustment. We calculated the probability of survival after cancer diagnosis using Kaplan−Meier curves. To understand factors that influence our results, we surveyed all adult CCASAnet sites on current practices of cervical and anal cancer screening.
Overall, 5739 females with HIV (43,417 person-years) were included in cervical cancer analyses. There were 27 incident cervical cancers: crude incidence rate of 62.2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 34.9−89.4) per 100,000 person years. In the anal cancer analysis, 12,489 males who have sex with men (MSM), 7324 males other than MSM and 5739 females were included for a total of 25,552 PWH, contributing 157,166 person-years. Anal cancer was diagnosed in 56 individuals: crude incidence rates of 59.1 [95% CI: 33.2−85.0], 20.7 [95% CI: 11.6−29.7] and 15.2 [95% CI: 8.6−21.9] per 100,000 person-years in MSM, females and males other than MSM, respectively. Age-standardized incidence rates did not significantly change over time. Anal cancer risk decreased significantly with higher time-updated CD4 cell count. The predicted probability of 5-year survival after cancer diagnosis was 72.6% (95% CI: 48.4−86.8) for cervical cancer and 58.5% (95% CI: 44.0−70.5) for anal cancer.
In one of the few reports outside the United States or Europe, we did not observe a decrease in age-standardized incidence rates for anal and cervical cancer between 2000 and 2019. These data support continued efforts for cancer prevention through access to gender-neutral HPV vaccination and cancer screening.
“Person-centred” and “people-centred” HIV prevention programmes both seek to scale up access to HIV prevention services. A “person-centred” approach presents a vision of a client with agency in decision-making, engaged and empowered, working with providers in a process that is not disease-centric but focused on addressing, holistically, a client's needs. A “people-centred” approach recognizes the broader role of family and community, as well as the influence of the political and legal environment as barriers or facilitators to HIV services. In both cases, human rights are a critical determinant of positive or negative outcomes.
In 2017, the Global Fund's Breaking Down Barriers initiative funded baseline assessments in 20 countries examining key human rights barriers to HIV services. Subsequent evaluations in 2019–2021 and 2022–2024 focused on the scale-up of community-led human rights interventions and the impact of these programmes on access to HIV prevention and care. Results from the latest assessment describe a range of strategies and impact across diverse countries, settings and populations. For example, in Indonesia, transgender-led organizations catalysed a national drive to allow transgender persons to receive gender-matched identity cards, allowing thousands of individuals to access HIV prevention and treatment and broader social benefits. In Mozambique, peer-led paralegals and community advocates promoted legal literacy and assisted clients with claims of human rights violations, preventing access to HIV services. In Jamaica, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender led organizations sponsored trainings that advanced community activism for HIV prevention, education and advocacy. Despite facing stigma and challenging legal environments, in each case, human rights-based programmes removed structural and legal barriers to HIV prevention services, strengthening accountability and increasing uptake and retention in HIV services, especially among marginalized and criminalized populations.
Community mobilization led by key populations is a long-term undertaking that requires partnership and support from a wide range of stakeholders to ensure sustainability. A growing body of evidence across a range of diverse countries and settings demonstrates the impact of rights-based and people-centred programmes on access to, and retention in, HIV prevention and treatment.
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