Dataset Information

School Support as Structural HIV Prevention for Adolescent Orphans in Western Kenya.

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:Using a clustered randomized controlled trial design, we evaluated whether support to keep Kenyan orphaned adolescents in school reduces the risk of HIV infection. METHODS:Participants included 835 orphaned boys and girls in grades 7 and 8 (mean age at the baseline = 15 years) in western Kenya. Primary schools (N?=?26) were randomized to the study condition. Intervention participants received school uniforms, payment of tuition when they transitioned into high school, and nurse visits to monitor school absenteeism and provide assistance to stay in school. Annual surveys were conducted from 2011 through 2014, and HIV and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) biomarker data were collected at the baseline and the end line. Data were analyzed using survey logistic regression or generalized estimating equations controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. RESULTS:Intervention and control groups were equivalent at the baseline and did not differ on new HIV or HSV-2 incidence at the end line. The school support intervention increased school retention but had few HIV-related effects, except increased circumcision among male participants and reduced likelihood of transactional sex. CONCLUSIONS:Despite a strong study design, we found no relative reduction in HIV or HSV-2 infection after 3 years of intervention implementation. New incidence of HIV was lower than expected in this region among youth whose average age at end line was 18 years (range = 14-23). Although support for secondary school promises many benefits for vulnerable youth, our study adds to the growing body of research showing weak evidence for its effectiveness as an HIV prevention.

SUBMITTER: Cho H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5742035 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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School Support as Structural HIV Prevention for Adolescent Orphans in Western Kenya.

Cho Hyunsan H Mbai Isabella I Luseno Winnie Kavulani WK Hobbs Marcia M Halpern Carolyn C Hallfors Denise Dion DD

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 20171106 1

<h4>Purpose</h4>Using a clustered randomized controlled trial design, we evaluated whether support to keep Kenyan orphaned adolescents in school reduces the risk of HIV infection.<h4>Methods</h4>Participants included 835 orphaned boys and girls in grades 7 and 8 (mean age at the baseline = 15 years) in western Kenya. Primary schools (N = 26) were randomized to the study condition. Intervention participants received school uniforms, payment of tuition when they transitioned into high school, and ...[more]

PMID: 29107569

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Project description:IntroductionOver one hundred implementation studies of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are completed, underway or planned. We synthesized evidence from these studies to inform mathematical modelling of the prevention cascade for oral and long-acting PrEP in the setting of western Kenya, one of the world's most heavily HIV-affected regions.MethodsWe incorporated steps of the PrEP prevention cascade - uptake, adherence, retention and re-engagement after discontinuation - into EMOD-HIV, an open-source transmission model calibrated to the demography and HIV epidemic patterns of western Kenya. Early PrEP implementation research from East Africa was used to parameterize prevention cascades for oral PrEP as currently implemented, delivery innovations for oral PrEP, and future long-acting PrEP. We compared infections averted by PrEP at the population level for different cascade assumptions and sub-populations on PrEP. Analyses were conducted over the 2020 to 2040 time horizon, with additional sensitivity analyses for the time horizon of analysis and the time when long-acting PrEP becomes available.ResultsThe maximum impact of oral PrEP diminished by over 98% across all prevention cascades, with the exception of long-acting PrEP under optimistic assumptions about uptake and re-engagement after discontinuation. Long-acting PrEP had the highest population-level impact, even after accounting for possible delays in product availability, primarily because its effectiveness does not depend on drug adherence. Retention was the most significant cascade step reducing the potential impact of long-acting PrEP. These results were robust to assumptions about the sub-populations receiving PrEP, but were highly influenced by assumptions about re-initiation of PrEP after discontinuation, about which evidence was sparse.ConclusionsImplementation challenges along the prevention cascade compound to diminish the population-level impact of oral PrEP. Long-acting PrEP is expected to be less impacted by user uptake and adherence, but it is instead dependent on product availability in the short term and retention in the long term. To maximize the impact of long-acting PrEP, ensuring timely product approval and rollout is critical. Research is needed on strategies to improve retention and patterns of PrEP re-initiation.

Project description:While tremendous progress has been made on attaining HIV treatment goals (95-95-95), children’s viral load suppression remains a challenge particularly among the orphans and vulnerable groups. In Sub Saharan Africa, there is limited evidence of specific interventions in orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) programs to support children and adolescents living with HIV (CALHIV) to attain durable viral load suppression. Through a large OVC cohort, the study sought to identify correlates of optimal viral load suppression among CALHIV in the Kenya OVC program. This cross-sectional study utilized data on CALHIV below the age of 18 years who were enrolled in the OVC program and actively receiving HIV care and treatment services from ART clinics across Kenya and with documented VL results between October 2019 and September 2020. To obtain a nationally representative sample, data was retrieved from USAID implementing partners’ databases across the country. Association between selected variables and VL suppression (outcome of interest) were assessed using a multivariate mixed effect logistic regression model, using glmer function in the LME4 package in R. Factors associated with VL suppression included child’s education status (aOR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.65), membership of a psychosocial support group (aOR = 1.258; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.38), and membership of a voluntary savings and lending association (VSLA) (aOR = 1.226; 95% CI: 1.129, 1.33). In addition, child’s sex (aOR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.94), caregiver sex (aOR = 0.909; 95% CI: 0.839, 0.997) and “high” status for caregiver household vulnerability (aOR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.924), had an inverse relationship with VL suppression. CALHIV characteristics including child’s sex, child’s education status (whether currently active in school or inactive) and child’s membership in a psychosocial support group were key determinants of VL suppression. Similarly, caregiver sex and membership in a voluntary savings and lending association also influence VL suppression.

Dataset Information

School Support as Structural HIV Prevention for Adolescent Orphans in Western Kenya.

Publications

School Support as Structural HIV Prevention for Adolescent Orphans in Western Kenya.

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