The Pop Reporter is a weekly, customizable electronic magazine that provides summaries and links to research and news reports from around the world on reproductive health and related topics. Choose categories such as HIV/AIDS, Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, or Youth Health and one or more regions to customize your own e-zine, delivered by your choice of method. Guest Commentaries provide unique insight into current research, news, and project results. 

 

Get your free subscription

 

To set up a free account and subscribe to the Pop Reporter, visit http://www.infoforhealth.org/clients/signin.php .

 

From this week's issue

 

If you don't subscribe to The Pop Reporter, here is a sampling of items you missed this week!

 


FAMILY PLANNING RESEARCH


The influence of hormonal contraceptive use on HIV-1 transmission and disease progression <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CID/journal/issues/v45n3/50241/50241.web.pdf>  

(http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CID/journal/issues/v45n3/50241/50241.web.pdf)
(Research Article; Global)
(You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access this document)
Clinical Infectious Diseases . 2007 Aug;45(3):360-369. 
Baeten JM | Lavreys L | Overbaugh J 
Related Article: Hormonal contraception and the risk of HIV acquisition <http://www.infoforhealth.org/search/search_results.php?cleanfiltercache=1&query=%28rsid%3A310411%29>  (http://www.infoforhealth.org/search/search_results_single.php?start_num=0&fullrecordID=407488&fullrecordtype=7&query=rsid%3A310411&subquery=&sort=year&sort_order=desc&PHPSESSID=51b3b4b5cd2297bb32ecf24e34f6963a)

Women account for nearly one-half of new human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections worldwide, including the majority of infections in Africa. Biological and epidemiological studies suggest that hormonal contraceptive use could influence susceptibility to HIV-1, as well as infectivity and disease progression for those who become infected. However, not all studies have shown this relationship, and many questions remain. Safe and effective contraceptive choices are essential for women with and at risk for HIV-1 infection. Hormonal contraception may have biologically plausible and clinically important effects on susceptibility to HIV-1, infectiousness of HIV-1, and progression of HIV-1 disease, but the data are inconsistent, and many questions remain. Still, it is clear that hormonal contraceptives are not protective against HIV-1 infection, and potentially the most important public health message is that dual protection with condoms should be the goal for women using hormonal contraception. This emphasizes the necessity for cooperation between those working in the fields of reproductive health and prevention of STDs, as well as the needs for increased involvement of men in reproductive health and for novel prevention interventions for women. Policymakers and clinicians must carefully consider how to translate the available data into public health messages that will reach the countries hardest hit by HIV-1 infection and women who are at risk for or who are living with this disease.

HIV/AIDS and STIs RESEARCH  


Immunogenicity of standard-titer measles vaccine in HIV-1-infected and uninfected Zambian children: An observational study <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/519169>  

 

(http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/519169)
(Abstract; subscription needed for full text; Sub-Saharan Africa)
Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2007 Aug;196(3):347-355. 
Moss WJ | Scott S | Mugala N | Ndhlovu Z | Beeler JA 
Achieving the level of population immunity required for measles elimination may be difficult in regions of high human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) prevalence, because HIV-1-infected children may be less likely to respond to or maintain protective antibody levels after vaccination. We conducted a prospective study of the immunogenicity of standard-titer measles vaccine administered at 9 months of age to HIV-1-infected and uninfected children in Lusaka, Zambia. From May 2000 to November 2002, 696 children aged 2-8 months were enrolled. Within 6 months of vaccination, 88% of 50 HIV-1-infected children developed antibody levels of greater than or equal to 120 mIU/mL, compared with 94% of 98 HIV-seronegative children and 94% of 211 HIV-seropositive but uninfected children (P=.3). By 27 months after vaccination, however, only half of the 18 HIV-1-infected children who survived and returned for follow-up maintained measles antibody levels greater than or equal to 120 mIU/mL, compared with 89% of 71 uninfected children (P=.001) and in contrast with 92% of 12 HIV-1-infected children revaccinated during a supplemental measles immunization activity. Although HIV-1-infected children showed good primary antibody responses to measles vaccine, their rapid waning of antibody suggests that measles vaccination campaigns may need to be repeated more frequently in areas of high HIV-1 prevalence.

 

HIV/AIDS and STIs NEWS

Brazil gets cut-price Aids drug <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6272044.stm> 

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6272044.stm)
(News Article; South America)
5 Jul 2007 
Duffy G, BBC News 


GENDER and HEALTH RESEARCH


Influences on uptake of reproductive health services in Nsangi community of Uganda and their implications for cervical cancer screening <http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-4-4>  

(http://www.reproductive-health-journal.com/content/4/1/4)
(Research Article; Sub-Saharan Africa)
Reproductive Health. 2007 Jun 26;4(1):[24] p. 
Mutyaba T | Faxelid E | Mirembe F | Weiderpass E
Cervical cancer is the most common female cancer in Uganda. Over 80% of women diagnosed or referred with cervical cancer in Mulago national referral and teaching hospital have advanced disease. Plans are underway for systematic screening programmes based on visual inspection, as Pap smear screening is not feasible for this low resource country. Effectiveness of population screening programmes requires high uptake and for cervical cancer, minimal loss to follow up. Uganda has poor indicators of reproductive health (RH) services uptake; 10% postnatal care attendance, 23% contraceptive prevalence, and 38% skilled attendance at delivery. For antenatal attendance, attendance to one visit is 90%, but less than 50% for completion of care, i.e. three or more visits. A qualitative study was conducted using eight focus group discussions with a total of 82 participants (16 men, 46 women and 20 health workers) to better understand factors that influence usage of available reproductive health care services and how they would relate to cervical cancer screening, as well as identify feasible interventions to improve cervical cancer screening uptake. Barriers identified after framework analysis included ignorance about cervical cancer, cultural constructs/beliefs about the illness, economic factors, domestic gender power relations, alternative authoritative sources of reproductive health knowledge, and unfriendly health care services. We discuss how these findings may inform future planned screening programmes in the Ugandan context. Knowledge about cervical cancer among Ugandan women is very low. For an effective cervical cancer-screening programme, awareness about cervical cancer needs to be increased. Health planners need to note the power of the various authoritative sources of reproductive health knowledge such as paternal aunts (Sengas) and involve them in the awareness campaign. Cultural and economic issues dictate the perceived reluctance by men to participate in women's reproductive health issues; men in this community are, however, potential willing partners if appropriately informed. Health planners should address the loss of confidence in current health care units, as well as consider use of other cervical cancer screening delivery systems such as mobile clinics/camps.

 

 

Get past issues

 

Visit The Pop Reporter archives (www.infoforhealth.org/popreporter/index.shtml) for links to past issues.

 

 

***********************************************************

Theresa Norton

Associate Editor

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs

111 Market Place/Suite 310

Baltimore, Maryland 21202 USA

(410) 659-2697

[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

Resources for HIV/AIDS and SRH Integration

www.hivandsrh.org <http://www.hivandsrh.org/> 

"Linking HIV/AIDS prevention and sexual and reproductive health services."

The Pop Reporter E-Zine

http://www.infoforhealth.org/popreporter/ <http://www.infoforhealth.org/popreporter/> 

"Delivering thought-provoking global health news to your desktop."

 

INFO Project

www.infoforhealth.org <http://www.infoforhealth.org/> 

"Driving the use of innovative global health knowledge."

 


Access CANCHID archives at: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/canchid.html
plus CANCHID subscription management. CANCHID is a joint service of the Canadian Society for International Health < http:www.csih.org > and the Distributed Knowledge Project at York University.  Queries to: [log in to unmask]