The evidence on the effect of pregnancy on acquiring HIV is conflicting, with studies reporting both higher and lower HIV acquisition risk during pregnancy when prolonged antiretroviral therapy was accessible. The aim of this study was to assess the pregnancy effect on HIV acquisition where antiretroviral therapy was widely available in a high HIV prevalence setting. This is a retrospective cohort study nested within a population-based surveillance to determine HIV incidence in HIV-uninfected women from 15 to 49 years from 2010 through 2015 in rural KwaZulu-Natal. HIV incidence per 100 person-years according to pregnancy status (not pregnant, pregnant, to eight weeks postpartum) were measured in 5260 HIV-uninfected women. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression with pregnancy included as a time varying variable. Overall, pregnancy HIV incidence was 4.5 per 100 person-years (95% CI 3.4–5.8), higher than non-pregnancy (4.0; 95% CI 3.7–4.3) and postpartum incidences (4.2 per 100 person-years; 95% CI 2.3–7.6). However, adjusting for age, and demographic factors, pregnant women had a lower risk of acquiring HIV (HR 0.4; 95% CI 0.2–0.9, P = 0.032) than non-pregnant women; there were no differences between postpartum and non-pregnant women (HR 1.2; 95% CI 0.4–3.2; P = 0.744). In models adjusting for the interaction of age and gravidity, pregnant women under 25 years with two or more pregnancies had a 2.3 times greater risk of acquiring HIV than their older counterparts (95% CI 1.3–4.3; P = 0.008). Pregnancy had a protective effect on HIV acquisition. Elevated HIV incidence in younger women appeared to be driven by those with higher gravidity. The sexual and biological factors in younger women should be explored further in order to design appropriate HIV prevention interventions.

Follow up of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-exposed infants is an important component of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes in order to ascertain infant outcomes post delivery. We determined HIV transmission, mortality and loss to follow-up (LTFU) of HIV-exposed infants attending a postnatal clinic in an urban hospital in Durban, South Africa.

Increasingly more women conceive on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase-based regimens. This study assessed the effect of preconception tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)-lamivudine (3TC)/emtricitabine (FTC)-efavirenz (EFV) and post-conception TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV (versus other regimens) on preterm delivery (PTD) and small-for-gestational age (SGA) births. We analysed data of 2549 HIV-infected women attending antenatal clinics in KwaZulu-Natal from 2010 through 2015 in this retrospective cohort study. Preconception, TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV was compared to nevirapine (NVP)-based regimens and other 3-drug EFV-based regimens. Post-conception, TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV was compared to NVP-based ART and zidovudine (ZDV) prophylaxis. Outcomes included PTD <37 weeks and SGA births. Generalized linear mixed effects were used to fit logistic regression models to account for repeat pregnancies. Among 2549 singleton live births, 10.4% (n = 264) were PTD and 10.4% (n = 265) SGA. PTD declined from 16.3% in 2010 to 9.3% in 2015 and SGA remained stable from 9.9% in 2010 to 10% in 2015. Preconception NVP-based regimens [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.66; 95% CI 0.27–1.63] and other 3-drug EFV-based regimens (aOR 0.72; 95% CI 0.24–2.12) were not associated with PTD versus TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV. NVP-based (aOR 0.75; 95% CI 0.40–1.42) and other 3-drug EFV-based regimens (aOR 1.55; 95% CI 0.76–3.16) were not associated with SGA births versus TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV. Post-conception NVP-based ART (1.77; 95% CI 0.89–3.51) and ZDV (1.03; 95% CI 0.68–1.58) were not associated with PTD versus TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV. NVP-based ART (1.55; 95% CI 0.66–3.61) and ZDV (0.89; 95% CI 0.53–1.47) were not associated with SGA versus TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV. Preconception TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV and post-conception TDF-(3TC/FTC)-EFV were not associated with PTD or SGA, compared with other regimens. Increasing ART use merits further study of the optimum ART regimen for safe birth outcomes.

Evidence for the effectiveness of continuous quality improvement (CQI) in resource-poor settings is very limited. We aimed to establish the effects of CQI on quality of antenatal HIV care in primary care clinics in rural South Africa. We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing CQI to usual standard of antenatal care (ANC) in 7 nurse-led, public-sector primary care clinics—combined into 6 clusters—over 8 steps and 19 months. Clusters randomly switched from comparator to intervention on pre-specified dates until all had rolled over to the CQI intervention. Investigators and clusters were blinded to randomisation until 2 weeks prior to each step. The intervention was delivered by trained CQI mentors and included standard CQI tools (process maps, fishbone diagrams, run charts, Plan-Do-Study-Act [PDSA] cycles, and action learning sessions). CQI mentors worked with health workers, including nurses and HIV lay counsellors. The mentors used the standard CQI tools flexibly, tailored to local clinic needs. Health workers were the direct recipients of the intervention, whereas the ultimate beneficiaries were pregnant women attending ANC. Our 2 registered primary endpoints were viral load (VL) monitoring (which is critical for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV [eMTCT] and the health of pregnant women living with HIV) and repeat HIV testing (which is necessary to identify and treat women who seroconvert during pregnancy). All pregnant women who attended their first antenatal visit at one of the 7 study clinics and were ≥18 years old at delivery were eligible for endpoint assessment. We performed intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses using modified Poisson generalised linear mixed effects models. We estimated effect sizes with time-step fixed effects and clinic random effects (Model 1). In separate models, we added a nested random clinic–time step interaction term (Model 2) or individual random effects (Model 3). Between 15 July 2015 and 30 January 2017, 2,160 participants with 13,212 ANC visits (intervention n = 6,877, control n = 6,335) were eligible for ITT analysis. No adverse events were reported. Median age at first booking was 25 years (interquartile range [IQR] 21 to 30), and median parity was 1 (IQR 0 to 2). HIV prevalence was 47% (95% CI 42% to 53%). In Model 1, CQI significantly increased VL monitoring (relative risk [RR] 1.38, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.57, p < 0.001) but did not improve repeat HIV testing (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.13, p = 0.958). These results remained essentially the same in both Model 2 and Model 3. Limitations of our study include that we did not establish impact beyond the duration of the relatively short study period of 19 months, and that transition steps may have been too short to achieve the full potential impact of the CQI intervention. We found that CQI can be effective at increasing quality of primary care in rural Africa. Policy makers should consider CQI as a routine intervention to boost quality of primary care in rural African communities. Implementation research should accompany future CQI use to elucidate mechanisms of action and to identify factors supporting long-term success. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration number NCT02626351.

Objectives: Pregnancy and post‐partum viral load suppression is critical to prevent mother‐to‐childHIVtransmission and ensure maternal health. We measured viraemia risk before, during and after pregnancy inHIV‐infected women.Methods: Between 2010 and 2015, 1425HIV‐infected pregnant women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least six months pre‐pregnancy were enrolled in a cohort study in rural KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. Odds ratios were estimated in multilevel logistic regression, with pregnancy period time‐varying.Results: Over half of 1425 women received tenofovir‐based regimens (n = 791). Median pre‐pregnancyARTduration was 2.1 years. Of 988 women (69.3%) with pre‐pregnancy viral loads, 82.0%, 6.8% and 11.2% hadVL<50, 50‐999 and ≥1000 copies/ml, respectively. During pregnancy and at six, 12 and 24 months, viral load was ≥1000 copies/ml in 15.2%, 15.7%, 17.8% and 16.6% respectively; viral load <50 was 76.9%, 77%, 75.5% and 75.8%, respectively. Adjusting for age, clinical and pregnancy factors, viraemia risk (viral load ≥50 copies/ml) was not significantly associated with pregnancy [adjustedOR(aOR) 1.31; 95%CI0.90‐1.92], six months (aOR1.30; 95%CI0.83‐2.04), 12 months (aOR0.96; 95%CI0.58‐1.58) and 24 months (aOR1.40; 95%CI0.89‐2.22) post‐partum. Adjusting forARTduration–pregnancy period interaction, viraemia risk was 1.8 during pregnancy and twofold higher post‐partum.Conclusions: While undetectable viral load before pregnancy through post‐partum was common, theUNAIDSgoal to suppress viraemia in 90% of women was not met. Women on preconceptionARTremain vulnerable to viraemia; additional support is required to prevent mother‐to‐childHIVtransmission and maintain maternal health.

A rapid review of the effectiveness of screening practices at airports, land borders and ports to reduce the transmission of respiratory infectious diseases such as COVID-19