Publicaties
Impact of maternal HIV infection and placental malaria on the transplacental transfer of influenza antibodies in mother-infant pairs in Malawi, 2013-2014 Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
Background: Maternal influenza vaccination protects infants against influenza virus infection. Impaired transplacental transfer of influenza antibodies may reduce this protection.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of influenza vaccine-naïve pregnant women recruited at delivery from Blantyre (urban, low malaria transmission) and Chikwawa (rural, high malaria transmission) in Southern Malawi. HIV-infected mothers were excluded ...
Geostatistical analysis of Malawi's changing malaria transmission from 2010 to 2017 Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
Background: The prevalence of malaria infection in time and space provides important information on the likely sub-national epidemiology of malaria burdens and how this has changed following intervention. Model-based geostatitics (MBG) allow national malaria control programmes to leverage multiple data sources to provide predictions of malaria prevalance by district over time. These methods are used to explore the possible changes in malaria ...
Respiratory virus-associated severe acute respiratory illness and viral clustering in Malawian children in a setting with a high prevalence of HIV infection, malaria, and malnutrition Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
BACKGROUND:  We used data from 4 years of pediatric severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Blantyre, Malawi, to identify factors associated with clinical severity and coviral clustering.
METHODS:  From January 2011 to December 2014, 2363 children aged 3 months to 14 years presenting to the hospital with SARI were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were tested for influenza virus and other respiratory viruses. ...
The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community-based lay distribution of HIV self-tests in increasing uptake of HIV testing among adults in rural Malawi and rural and peri-urban Zambia: protocol for STAR (self-testing for Africa) cluster randomized Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
Background: Knowledge of HIV status remains below target in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among men and adolescents. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a novel approach that enables unique distribution strategies, with potential to be highly decentralised and to provide complementary coverage to facility-based testing approaches. However, substantial gaps in evidence remain on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of HIVST, particularly in rural ...
Preferences for linkage to HIV care services following a reactive self-test: discrete choice experiments in Malawi and Zambia Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
OBJECTIVES: The current research identifies key drivers of demand for linkage into care following a reactive HIV self-test result in Malawi and Zambia. Preferences are explored among the general population and key groups such as HIV-positive individuals and adolescents.
DESIGN: We used discrete choice experiments (DCEs) embedded in representative household surveys to quantify the relative strength of preferences for various HIV ...