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OBJECTIVES Increased risk of morbidity and hospitalization has been observed in children who are HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) compared with HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU). Studies in the era of universal maternal antiretroviral treatment (ART) are limited. DESIGN Prospective cohort. METHODS We investigated hospitalization between 29 days and 12 months of life in a South African cohort of infants born between February 2017 and January 2019 (HEU = 455; HUU = 458). All mothers known with HIV during pregnancy received ART. We reviewed hospital records and classified and graded infectious diagnoses using a standardized tool. We examined factors associated with infectious-cause hospitalization using mixed-effects Poisson regression. RESULTS Infants HEU vs. HUU had higher all-cause and infectious-cause hospitalization (13 vs. 7%, P = 0.004 and 10 vs. 6%, P = 0.014, respectively). Infectious causes accounted for most hospitalizations (77%). More infants HEU were hospitalized with severe or very severe infections than those HUU (9 vs. 6%; P = 0.031). Mortality (

PurposeThe Western Cape Pregnancy Exposure Registry (PER) was established at two public sector healthcare sentinel sites in the Western Cape province, South Africa, to provide ongoing surveillance of drug exposures in pregnancy and associations with pregnancy outcomes.ParticipantsEstablished in 2016, all women attending their first antenatal visit at primary care obstetric facilities were enrolled and followed to pregnancy outcome regardless of the site (ie, primary, secondary, tertiary facility). Routine operational obstetric and medical data are digitised from the clinical stationery at the healthcare facilities. Data collection has been integrated into existing services and information platforms and supports routine operations. The PER is situated within the Provincial Health Data Centre, an information exchange that harmonises and consolidates all health-related electronic data in the province. Data are contributed via linkage across a unique identifier. This relationship limits the missing data in the PER, allows validation and avoids misclassification in the population-level data set.Findings to dateApproximately 5000 and 3500 pregnant women enter the data set annually at the urban and rural sites, respectively. As of August 2021, >30 000 pregnancies have been recorded and outcomes have been determined for 93%. Analysis of key obstetric and neonatal health indicators derived from the PER are consistent with the aggregate data in the District Health Information System.Future plansThis represents significant infrastructure, able to address clinical and epidemiological concerns in a low/middle-income setting.

Elevated HIV viral load (VL) in pregnancy has been linked to increased risk of mortality, immunologic abnormalities, infectious morbidity and restricted growth among HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children, but little is known about effects on child development.HIV-infected women initiating lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART; tenofovir + emtricitabine + efavirenz) antenatally were followed from first antenatal visit through delivery and with their breastfed infants postpartum. Cognitive, motor and expressive language development (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition; delay defined as score85) were assessed on a subset of HEU infants. HIV VL was measured at ART initiation, in third trimester and around delivery. Cumulative viremia in pregnancy was expressed as log10 VL copies × year/mL [viremia copy-years (VCY)]. Relationships between VCY and development were examined after adjusting for socioeconomic, behavioral and psychosocial confounders.Women (median pre-ART log10 VL 4.1, CD4 349 cells/mm) commonly reported adverse social circumstances (44% informal housing, 63% unemployed, 29% risky drinking). Among 214 infants (median age, 13 months; 53% male; 13% born37 weeks' gestation), viremia predicted lower motor and expressive language, but not cognitive, scores in crude and adjusted analysis [per log10 VCY increase, αβ (95% confidence interval [CI]): motor, -2.94 (-5.77 to -0.11); language, -3.71 (-6.73 to -0.69) and cognitive -2.19 (-5.02 to 0.65)]. Increasing VCY also predicted higher relative odds of motor delay [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 3.32; 95% CI: 1.36-8.14) and expressive language delay (aOR: 2.79; 95% CI: 1.57-4.94), but not cognitive delay (aOR: 1.68; 95% CI: 0.84-3.34).Cumulative maternal HIV viremia in pregnancy may have adverse implications for HEU child development.

OBJECTIVES Infants who are HIV exposed but uninfected (HEU) compared with HIV unexposed uninfected (HUU) have an increased risk of adverse birth outcomes, morbidity and hospitalization. In the era of universal maternal antiretroviral treatment, there are few insights into patterns of neonatal morbidity specifically. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. METHODS We compared neonatal hospitalizations among infants who were HEU (n = 463) vs. HUU (n = 466) born between 2017 and 2019 to a cohort of pregnant women from a large antenatal clinic in South Africa. We examined maternal and infant factors associated with hospitalization using logistic regression. RESULTS Hospitalization rates were similar between neonates who were HEU and HUU (13 vs. 16%; P = 0.25). Overall, most hospitalizations occurred directly after birth (87%); infection-related causes were identified in 34%. The most common reason for hospitalization unrelated to infection was respiratory distress (25%). Very preterm birth (

ObjectivesWe report the effectiveness of a mentoring approach to improve health workers’ (HWs’) knowledge, attitudes and confidence with counselling on HIV and infant feeding.DesignQuasi-experimental controlled before–after study.SettingRandomly selected primary healthcare clinics (n=24 intervention, n=12 comparison); two districts, South Africa.ParticipantsAll HWs providing infant feeding counselling in selected facilities were invited.InterventionsThree 1–2 hours, on-site workshops over 3–6 weeks.Primary outcome measuresKnowledge (22 binary questions), attitude (21 questions—5-point Likert Scale) and confidence (19 questions—3-point Likert Scale). Individual item responses were added within each of the attitude and confidence domains. The respective sums were taken to be the domain composite index and used as a dependent variable to evaluate intervention effect. Linear regression models were used to estimate the mean score difference between intervention and comparison groups postintervention, adjusting for the mean score difference between them at baseline. Analyses were adjusted for participant baseline characteristics and clustering at health facility level.ResultsIn intervention and comparison sites, respectively: 289 and 131 baseline and 253 and 114 follow-up interviews were conducted (August–December 2017). At baseline there was no difference in mean number of correctly answered knowledge questions; this differed significantly at follow-up (15.2 in comparison; 17.2 in intervention sites (pConclusionA participatory, low-intensity on-site mentoring approach to disseminating updated infant feeding guidelines improved HWs’ knowledge, attitudes and confidence more than standard dissemination via a circular. Further research is required to evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of this approach at scale.

Clinical guidelines are used to translate research findings into evidence‐based clinicalpractice but are frequently not comprehensively adopted by health workers (HWs).HIV and infant feeding guidelines were revised by the World Health Organizationto align feeding advice for HIV‐exposed and unexposed infants, and these wereadopted in South Africa in 2017. We describe an innovative, team‐based, mentoringprogramme developed to update HWs on these guidelines. The intervention wasunderpinned by strong theoretical frameworks and aimed to improve HWs' attitudes,knowledge, confidence, and skills about breastfeeding in the context of HIV. On‐siteworkshops and clinical mentoring used interactive participatory methods and a simplelow‐tech approach, guided by participants' self‐reported knowledge gaps. Workshopswere conducted at 24 participating clinics over three sessions, each lasting 1–2 hr.Evaluation data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire. Of 303 par-ticipating HWs, 249/303 (82.2%) attended all workshops. Achieving high workshopattendance was challenging and“catch‐up”sessions were required to achieve goodcoverage. Common knowledge gaps identified included antiretroviral therapy adher-ence monitoring during breastfeeding and management of viral load results (173 par-ticipants), management of breast conditions (79), and advice about expressing andstoring breastmilk (64). Most participants reported all their knowledge gaps wereaddressed and anticipated that their practice would change.We describe a feasible, sustainable approach to updating HWs on HIV and infantfeeding guidelines and improving skills in breastfeeding counselling in resource‐constrained settings. This approach could be adapted to other topics and, with furtherevaluation, implemented at scale using existing resources. KEYWORDS breastfeeding, clinical practice guideline, health worker, HIV, infant feeding, primary health care,South Africa publishedVersion

Summary Background Without breastfeeding and maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) infants have greater infectious morbidity than HIV-unexposed (HU) infants. We hypothesised that with the introduction of universal maternal ART, breastfed HEU and HU infants would have similar morbidity. Methods We prospectively studied a cohort of HIV-infected pregnant women initiating ART, and a parallel group of HIV-uninfected pregnant women, starting from their first antenatal care visit at the Gugulethu Midwife Obstetrics Unit in Cape Town, South Africa. All pregnant women attending their first antenatal care visit were eligible for enrolment if aged 18 years or older and planning to deliver in Cape Town, without gestational age restrictions. HIV-infected women were participants of the Maternal Child Health ART (MCH-ART) study, and HIV-uninfected women were participants of the HIV-Unexposed Uninfected (HU2) study. All enrolled women were followed up during pregnancy and through delivery. At the early neonatal visit (scheduled for the first week after birth), mother–infant pairs who practiced any breastfeeding in the first 7 days of life were eligible for further postnatal follow-up for at least 12 months post partum. HIV infection was excluded among HEU infants at ages 6 weeks and 12 months by PCR. We evaluated the effect of HIV exposure on two primary outcomes: hospitalisation (all-cause and infection-related admission to hospital) and longitudinal prevalence of child infectious illness (diarrhoea and presumed lower respiratory tract infection [LRTI]). Hospitalisation data were abstracted from routine health records. Crude and adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs; with adjustment for maternal HIV disease severity, timing of ART initiation, breastfeeding, timely vaccination, and birth outcomes [gestational size and age]) for infection-related hospitalisations were calculated from Poisson regression models (with variance corrected for clustering). Prevalence of infant infectious illness was based on maternal self-report for the preceding 2 weeks of each visit, with questions based on Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questionnaires. Infants who acquired HIV infection during follow-up were excluded from this analysis. MCH-ART is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01933477 . Findings Pregnant women were recruited between March 20, 2013, and Aug 19, 2015. Mother–infant pairs (HEU, n=459; HU, n=410) were followed up for a median of 12 months until March 24, 2017. Compared with HU infants, HEU infants had more infection-related hospitalisations between the age of 8 days and 3 months (HEU, 34·2 admissions per 100 child-years [24·4–47·9] vs 9·8 per 100 child-years [95% CI 5·1–18·8]; IRR 3·50 [95% CI 1·68–7·30]), but rates were similar at other ages. In infants aged 8 days to 3 months, infection-related hospitalisations for HEU infants with healthier mothers (n=84; ART initiation at 350 cells per μL, HIV viral load Interpretation Despite ART in pregnancy, breastfed HEU infants versus breastfed HU infants had transiently increased infectious morbidity risks in early infancy. However, differences were driven by factors potentially amenable to intervention, including delayed diagnosis and ART initiation in HIV-positive mothers, and suboptimal breastfeeding and vaccination of their infants. Funding US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, South African Medical Research Council, Fogarty Foundation and the Office of AIDS Research.

BackgroundThe high HIV prevalence in South Africa may potentially be shaping the local adverse drug reaction (ADR) burden. We aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of serious ADRs at admission, and during admission, to two South African children’s hospitals.MethodsWe reviewed the folders of children admitted over sequential 30-day periods in 2015 to the medical wards and intensive care units of each hospital. We identified potential ADRs using a trigger tool developed for this study. A multidisciplinary team assessed ADR causality, type, seriousness, and preventability through consensus discussion. We used multivariate logistic regression to explore associations with serious ADRs.ResultsAmong 1050 patients (median age 11 months, 56% male, 2.8% HIV-infected) with 1106 admissions we found 40 serious ADRs (3.8 per 100 drug-exposed admissions), including 9/40 (23%) preventable serious ADRs, and 8/40 (20%) fatal or near-fatal serious ADRs. Antibacterials, corticosteroids, psycholeptics, immunosuppressants, and antivirals were the most commonly implicated drug classes. Preterm neonates and children in middle childhood (6 to 11 years) were at increased risk of serious ADRs compared to infants (under 1 year) and term neonates: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 5.97 (95% confidence interval 1.30 to 27.3) and aOR 3.63 (1.24 to 10.6) respectively. Other risk factors for serious ADRs were HIV infection (aOR 3.87 (1.14 to 13.2) versus HIV-negative) and increasing drug count (aOR 1.08 (1.04 to 1.12) per additional drug).ConclusionsSerious ADR prevalence in our survey was similar to the prevalence found elsewhere. In our setting, serious ADRs were associated with HIV-infection and the antiviral drug class was one of the most commonly implicated. Similar to other sub-Saharan African studies, a large proportion of serious ADRs were fatal or near-fatal. Many serious ADRs were preventable.

Introduction The virtual elimination of mother‐to‐child transmission of HIV cannot be achieved without complete maternal HIV testing. The World Health Organization recommends that women in high HIV prevalent settings repeat HIV testing in the third trimester, and at delivery or directly thereafter. The Western Cape Province (South Africa) prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission (PMTCT) guidelines recommend a repeat maternal HIV test between 32 and 34 weeks gestation and at delivery in addition to testing at the first antenatal visit (ideally

Breastfeeding education and support are critical health worker skills. Confusion surrounding infant feeding advice linked to the HIV epidemic has reduced the confidence of health workers to support breastfeeding. High antiretroviral therapy coverage of breastfeeding women living with HIV, and an Infant Feeding policy supportive of breastfeeding, now provides an opportunity to improve breastfeeding practices. Challenges remain in restoring health worker confidence to support breastfeeding. This qualitative study presents findings from focus group discussions with mothers of young infants, exploring their experiences of health worker breastfeeding counselling and support. Analysis followed the thematic framework approach. Six researchers reviewed the transcripts, coded them independently, then jointly reviewed the codes, and agreed on a working analytical framework. Although mothers received antenatal breastfeeding messages, these appeared to focus rigidly on the importance of exclusivity. Mothers described receiving some practical support with initiation of breastfeeding after delivery, but support and advice for post‐natal breastfeeding challenges were often incorrect or absent. The support also ignored the context in which women make infant feeding decisions, including returning to work and pressures from family members. Despite improved breastfeeding policies, restoring confidence in health workers to support breastfeeding remains a challenge. The post‐natal period, when mothers experience breastfeeding difficulties, is particularly critical, and our findings reinforce the importance of continuity of care between communities and health facilities. This research has implications for how health workers are trained to support breastfeeding. Greater attention is needed on developing skills and confidence in identifying, assessing, and supporting women experiencing breastfeeding challenges. publishedVersion

OBJECTIVES To assess neurodevelopment of breastfed HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) and breastfed HIV-unexposed children in the context of universal maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART). DESIGN Prospective study with antenatal enrolment and follow-up of breastfeeding HEU and HIV-unexposed mother-infant pairs through 12-18 months postpartum. SETTING Peri-urban community, Cape Town, South Africa. PARTICIPANTS HEU (n = 215) and HIV-unexposed (n = 306) children. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Cognitive, motor and language development at median 13 (interquartile range 12-14) months of age: continuous and dichotomous Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development Third Edition (delay defined as composite score

Polymerase chain reaction testing at birth ("birth-testing") is suggested by new World Health Organization guidelines for rapid diagnosis of infants infected with HIV in utero. However, there are few data on the implementation of this approach in sub-Saharan Africa, and whether birth testing affects uptake of subsequent routine early infant diagnosis (EID) testing at 6-10 weeks of age is unknown.We reviewed 575 consecutive infants undergoing targeted high-risk birth testing in Cape Town, South Africa, and matched those testing HIV negative at birth (n = 551) to HIV-exposed infants who did not receive birth testing (n = 551). Maternal and infant clinical and demographic data, including EID testing uptake, were abstracted from routine records.Overall, 3.8% of all birth tests conducted were positive while later EID testing positivity rates were 0.5% for those infants testing HIV negative at birth and 0.4% for those without birth testing. Infants who underwent birth testing were less likely to present for later EID compared with those without a birth test (73% vs. 85%; P0.001). This difference persisted after adjusting for maternal and infant characteristics (adjusted odds ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval: 0.41-0.86) and across demographic and clinical subgroups. Infants undergoing birth testing also presented for later EID at a significantly older age (mean age, 60 vs. 50 days; P0.001).While the yield of targeted high-risk birth testing in this setting appears high, neonates testing HIV negative at birth may be less likely to present for subsequent EID testing. For birth testing implementation to contribute to overall EID program goals, structured interventions are required to support follow-up EID services after negative birth test results.

Despite clear evidence of the benefits of exclusive and continued breastfeeding for children, women and society, far too few children in South Africa (SA) are breastfed. One of the major impediments to improving this situation is the continued and aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMSs) and infiltration of the BMS industry into contexts with exposure to health professionals. In this article we, as academics, practitioners and child health advocates, describe contraventions of the regulations that protect breastfeeding in SA and argue that bold, proactive leadership to eliminate conflict of interest in respect of the BMS industry is urgently required, together with far greater investments in proven interventions to promote and support breastfeeding.

Summary box Globally the COVID-19 pandemic has destabilised health systems and communities. Governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) followed the approaches adopted by the Global North and advocated by international bodies such as the WHO, and instituted varying degrees of nationwide stay at home orders (lockdowns) from strict restrictions (such as in South Africa, India and Zimbabwe) to weakly enforced lockdown as in Brazil.1 Many have questioned the appropriateness of these measures in LMIC contexts2 where key preventive behaviours such as social distancing and frequent hand washing are impossible to implement in densely populated informal housing settlements. People rely on crowded public transport to get to work, households are cramped and lack easy access to water and sanitation; loss of income leads to food insecurity and hunger as well as high levels of stress and violence. In such conditions viral spread is impossible to control and economic devastation is inevitable. In this commentary we examine (1) some of the unintended impacts of this approach for LMICs and (2) the steps that need to be taken in the short-term and longer-term to mitigate these impacts and the vital role of civil society and communities in this recovery process. The response from LMIC governments to contain the COVID-19 pandemic aimed primarily to limit virus spread. The unintended consequences of the …

Over 1 million HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are born in sub-Saharan Africa annually. Little data exist on the risk of impaired growth in this population under current policies of universal maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART) with breastfeeding. We aimed to study the growth of breastfed HEU children born to women who initiated ART during pregnancy and compare their growth with that of breastfed HIV-unexposed (HU) children drawn from the same community.A prospective cohort of HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected pregnant women, who were initiating ART, were enrolled at their first antenatal care visit in a primary care centre in Gugulethu, Cape Town, South Africa. HIV infected women were participants of the Maternal Child Health Antiretroviral Therapy (MCH-ART) study, and HIV-uninfected pregnant women were participants in the HIV-Unexposed-Uninfected (HU2) study. All women were followed up during pregnancy, through delivery, to the early postnatal visit, which was scheduled for the first week after birth. At this visit, eligible breastfeeding mother-child pairs were recruited for continuation of postnatal follow-up until approximately age 12 months. Child anthropometry was measured at around 6 weeks, and every 3 months from month 3 to month 12. Weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), weight-for-length (WLZ), head circumference-for-age, and body-mass index-for-age Z scores were compared between HEU and HU children longitudinally using mixed effects linear regression. At 12 months, proportions of HEU and HU children with moderate or severe malnutrition were compared cross-sectionally using logistic regression. MCH-ART is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01933477.Between June, 2013, and April, 2016, 884 breastfeeding mothers and their newborn babies (HEU, n=471; HU, n=413) were enrolled into postnatal follow-up. Excluding 12 children who tested HIV positive during follow-up, 461 HEU and 411 HU children attended 4511 study visits in total, with a median of 6 visits (IQR 5-6) per child. Birth characteristics were similar (overall, 94 [11%] of 872 preterm [37 weeks] and 90 [10%] small-for-gestational age [birthweight10th percentile]). Median duration of breastfeeding was shorter among HEU than HU children (3·9 months [IQR 1·4-12·0] vs 9·0 months [IQR 3·0-12·0]). Although WAZ scores increased over time in both groups, HEU children had consistently lower mean WAZ scores than HU children (overall β -0·34, 95% CI -0·47 to -0·21). LAZ scores decreased in both groups after 9 months. At 12 months, HEU children had lower mean LAZ scores than HU children (β -0·43, -0·61 to -0·25), with a higher proportion of children stunted (LAZ score-2: 35 [10%] of 342 HEU vs 14 [4%] of 342 HU children; odds ratio [OR] 2·67, 95% CI 1·41 to 5·06). Simultaneously, overweight (WLZ score2) was common in both groups of children at 12 months (54 [16%] of 342 HEU vs 60 [18%] of 340 HU children; OR 0·87, 95% CI 0·58 to 1·31).Compared with HU children, HEU children have small deficits in early growth trajectories under policies of universal maternal ART and breastfeeding. Large proportions of both HEU and HU children were overweight by 12 months, indicating substantial risks for early onset obesity among South African children. Although the longer-term metabolic effects of ART exposure in the context of childhood obesity warrants further investigation, addressing childhood obesity should be an urgent public health priority in this setting.Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, South African Medical Research Council, and the Fogarty Foundation.

Introduction To strengthen the early infant diagnosis (EID) programmes and timeously identify and treat HIV‐infected infants, birth HIV‐PCR for some/all infants has been recommended in the Western Cape, South Africa since 2014. Operational data on the implementation of such programmes in low‐ and middle‐income countries are limited. Methods Utilizing the electronic records platform at primary care facilities, we developed an electronic register which consolidated obstetric and HIV‐related data, allowing us to track a cohort of HIV‐infected/exposed mother/infant dyads longitudinally from antenatal care through delivery to infant HIV‐PCR. We assessed guideline implementation and impact on EID of three sequential EID policies in a referral chain of facilities in Cape Town (primary‐tertiary care). Birth HIV‐PCR was indicated in period 1 if symptomatic; period 2 if meeting high‐risk criteria for transmission; and period 3 for all HIV‐exposed neonates. Results We enrolled 2012 HIV‐exposed infants; 89.2% had at least one HIV‐PCR at any point. The majority of birth tests were performed in hospital versus primary care regardless of policy period. Almost half of all infants (47.9%) had at least one high‐risk criterion for vertical infection; of these, 39.7% had a birth test. Infants with more risk factors were more likely to have birth EID. Receipt of a birth HIV‐PCR significantly reduced the likelihood of receiving a follow‐up test at six to ten weeks, even after adjusting for potential confounders (aOR 0.18 (0.12 to 0.26)). The proportion of infants tested at six to ten weeks old dropped from 92.9% (period 1) to 80.2% in period 3 and those receiving birth HIV‐PCR increased, peaking at 67.4% during period 3. The proportion of positive birth tests was highest (2.9%) when birth tests were restricted to infants meeting high‐risk criteria, with a low proportion positive for the first time at six to ten weeks. During period 3, the proportion positive at six to ten weeks was high (2.4%), highlighting the importance of follow‐up to detect intrapartum and early postpartum infections. Conclusions Over all policy periods, EID guidelines were incompletely implemented across all levels of care but especially in primary care. Birth HIV‐PCR reduced return for follow‐up testing, such follow‐up testing is critical for the effectiveness of the programme.

South Africa (SA) has emerged from the Millennium Development Goal era with a mixture of success and failure. The successful national scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services with increasingly efficacious antiretroviral regimens has reduced the mother-to-child transmission rate dramatically; however, over the same period there appears to have been no progress in coverage of high-impact interventions for pneumonia and diarrhoea, which are now leading causes of under-5 mortality. SA embarked on a strategy to re-engineer the primary healthcare system in 2011, which included the creation of ward-based outreach teams consisting of community health workers (CHWs). In this article we argue that the proposed ratio of CHWs to population is too low for public health impact and that the role and scope of CHWs should be extended beyond giving of health information to include assessment and treatment of childhood illnesses (particularly diarrhoea and suspected pneumonia). Evidence and experience amply demonstrate that CHWs in sufficient density can have a rapid and positive impact on neonatal and young child mortality, especially when they are allowed to treat common acute conditions. SA's mediocre performance in child survival could be dramatically improved if there were more CHWs who were allowed to do more.

Introduction Early infant diagnosis (EID) and prompt linkage to care are critical to minimise the high morbidity and mortality associated with infant HIV infection. Attrition in the "EID cascade" is common; however, point-of-care (POC) EID assays with same-day result could facilitate prompt linkage of HIV-infected infant to treatment. Despite a number of POC EID assays in development, few have been independently evaluated and data on new technologies are urgently needed to inform policy. METHODS: We compared Alere q 1/2 Detect POC system laboratory test characteristics with the local standard of care (SOC), Roche CAP/CTM HIV-1 qualitative PCR in an independent laboratory-based evaluation in Cape Town, South Africa. Routinely EID samples collected between November 2013 and September 2014 were each tested by both SOC and POC systems. Repeat testing was done to troubleshoot any discrepancy between POC and SOC results. RESULTS: Overall, 1098 children with a median age of 47 days (IQR, 42-117) were included. Birth PCR (age

World Health Organisation guidelines recommend nevirapine 2 mg/kg/d for HIV-exposed infants2 kg, but 4-6 mg/kg/d for infants2 kg. In 116 low birth weight infants, nevirapine 2 mg/kg/d until 14 days, and 4 mg/kg/d thereafter, was safe (1 mild possibly related rash) and achieved target plasma concentrations. Concentrations decreased with treatment duration. Routine dose increase at 14 days should be considered.

The objective of this design project was to create a device to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV through breast milk in preterm infants. Our team created a robust and intuitive device which utilizes Flash Heat Treatment (FHT), an established method to inactivate HIV. The FHT method heats jarred breast milk in boiling water for a short amount of time, enough to denature HIV reverse transcriptase while preserving the nutritional value of breast milk. [1] Thorough observation of users and available resources in Cape Town, South Africa enabled establishment of a design that can be used in urban/peri-urban areas. User research conveyed that low cost and effortless household adaptability were the most important elements of the design. As a result, a modified electric kettle was designed to function as a breast milk pasteurization device. Published data illustrating temperature curves during FHT with corresponding virology tests on the pasteurized milk were used to verify whether the device is likely to function effectively. [2] Experimental results indicate that the device matches the required temperature profile. After virology experimentation is complete, the new device may be incorporated into hospitals as well as households in the Cape Town area, and may be expanded to other low resource periurban/urban areas as well.