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TB is rated as one of the world’s deadliest diseases and South Africa ranks 9th out of the 22 countries with hardest hit of TB. Although many pieces of research have been carried out on this subject, this paper steps further by inculcating past knowledge into the model, using Bayesian approach with informative prior. Bayesian statistics approach is getting popular in data analyses. But, most applications of Bayesian inference technique are limited to situations of non-informative prior, where there is no solid external information about the distribution of the parameter of interest. The main aim of this study is to profile people living with TB in South Africa. In this paper, identical regression models are fitted for classical and Bayesian approach both with non-informative and informative prior, using South Africa General Household Survey (GHS) data for the year 2014. For the Bayesian model with informative prior, South Africa General Household Survey dataset for the year 2011 to 2013 are used to set up priors for the model 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary medical male circumcision is an integral part of the South African government’s response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Following circumcision, it is recommended that patients abstain from sexual activity for six weeks, as sex may increase the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission and prolong the healing period. This paper investigates the resumption of sexual activity during the healing period among a cohort of school-going males in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The analysis for this paper compares two groups of sexually active school-going males: the first group reported having sex during the healing period (n = 40) and the second group (n = 98) reported no sex during the healing period (mean age: 17.7, SD: 1.7).The results show that 29% (n = 40) of young males (mean age: 17.9, SD: 1.8) who were previously sexually active, resumed sexual activity during the healing period, had on average two partners and used condoms inconsistently. In addition, those males that engage in sexual activity during the healing period were less inclined to practice safe sex in the future (AOR = 0.055, p = 0.002) than the group of males who reported no sex during the healing period. These findings suggest that a significant proportion of young males may currently and in the future, subject themselves to high levels of risk for contracting HIV post circumcision. Education, as part of a VMMC campaign, must emphasize the high risk of HIV transmission for both the males their partners during the healing period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa ranks third among 22 high burden countries in the world. TB which remains a leading cause of death causes one in five adult deaths in South Africa. An in-depth understanding of knowledge, attitudes and practices of young people towards TB is required to implement meaningful interventions. We analysed young men and women (18–24 years)'s TB knowledge including TB/HIV coinfections, testing rates and factors associated with them. A cross sectional cluster-based household survey was conducted in two provinces. Participants completed computer-assisted self-interviews on TB knowledge, testing history and TB/HIV coinfections. A participant was regarded as knowledgeable of TB if s/he correctly answered the WHO-adopted TB knowledge questions. We built three multivariate regression models in Stata 13.0 to assess factors associated with knowing TB alone, testing alone and both knowing and testing for TB. 1955 participants were interviewed (89.9% response rate). Their median age was 20 years (IQR19-22). Sixteen percent (16.2%) of the participants were social grant recipients, 55% were enrolled in a school/college and 5% lived in substandard houses. A total of 72% had knowledge of TB, 21% underwent screening tests for TB and 14.7% knew and tested for TB. Factors associated with TB knowledge were being female, younger, a student, social grant recipient, not transacting sex and having positive attitudes towards people living with HIV (PLWH). Factors associated with TB testing were being a student, receiving a social grant, living in OR Tambo district, HIV knowledge and having a family member with TB history. Factors associated with both TB knowledge and testing were being female, a student, using the print media, living in OR Tambo district and having a family member with a TB history. The study demonstrates the importance of demographic factors (gender, economic status, family TB history, and location) and HIV factors in explaining TB knowledge and testing. We recommend extending community TB testing services to increase testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: WHO recommends a male circumcision (MC) prevalence rate higher than 80% to have a substantial impact on the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Eastern and Southern Africa. Orange Farm, a township in South Africa, has a free-for-service voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) clinic in operation since 2008. Following an intense campaign from 2008 to 2010, MC prevalence rate increased to 55.4% (ANRS-12126). Ongoing and past VMMC campaigns focused on youths, through school talks, and adults at a community level. The main objective of the study was to assess the change in MC prevalence rate among adults aged 18–19 and 18–49 years in the past 5 years. Methods: A cross-sectional survey (ANRS-12285) was conducted among a random sample of 522 adult men in 2015. MC status and characteristics of participants were collected through a genital examination and a face-to-face questionnaire. Results: MC prevalence rate among young adult men aged 18–19 years increased markedly from 61.2% (95%CI: 57.4% to 65.0%) in 2010 to 87.5% (76.0% to 94.6%) in 2015 (p<0.001). In the same period, among men aged 18–49 years, MC prevalence rate varied slightly from 55.4% (53.6% to 57.1%) to 56.7% (52.4% to 60.9%). In 2015, 84.9% (79.2% to 89.5%) of uncircumcised adult men reported that they were willing to be circumcised. However, we estimated that only 4.6% (11/237; 2.5% to 7.9%) of the uncircumcised men underwent circumcision in 2015, despite 117/185 (63.2%; 95%CI: 56.1% to 69.9%) who reported that they were definitely willing to become circumcised. Conclusions: In Orange Farm, VMMC campaigns were successful among the youth and led to a sufficiently high MC prevalence rate to have a substantial impact in the future on the HIV-AIDS epidemic. However, despite high acceptability and a free VMMC service, VMMC campaigns since 2010 have failed to increase MC prevalence rate among adults to above 80%. These campaigns should be revisited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]