Using Model-Based Geostatistics to Refine Population-Based Estimates of Trachoma Prevalence: Update from a Technical Consultation.

To explore how model-based geostatistics (MBG) could support trachoma elimination efforts, a technical consultation was held on March 4 and 5, 2024 by the Centre for Health Informatics, Computing, and Statistics at Lancaster University, United Kingdom, a WHO Collaborating Centre on Geostatistical Methods for Neglected Tropical Disease Research. The meeting aimed to foster collaboration for sharing insights on using MBG for decision-making; showcase its applications in assessing trachoma elimination status; address challenges, such as setting the probability threshold for elimination and resolving conflicts between survey and MBG evidence; and discuss considerations for integrating MBG into Tropical Data. Participants, including trachoma program managers, experts, academics, donors, and statisticians, reviewed MBG applications, discussed ongoing studies, identified knowledge gaps, and planned future work.

Exploring Heterogeneity in Treatment Effects: The Impact and Interaction of Asset-Based Wealth and Mass Azithromycin Distribution on Child Mortality.

Objective: To examine how child mortality among children aged 1-59 months varies by asset-based wealth status in rural Burkina Faso and to assess the interaction between mass azithromycin distribution and wealth status on child mortality at both the household and community levels.

Methods: We used data from a cluster-randomized trial and a population census data on household characteristics and assets. A wealth index score for each household, used to classify the population by wealth was generated using principal component analysis.

Characterizing trachoma elimination using serology.

Trachoma is targeted for global elimination as a public health problem by 2030. Measurement of IgG antibodies in children is being considered for surveillance and programmatic decision-making. There are currently no programmatic guidelines based on serology, which represents a generalizable problem in seroepidemiology and disease elimination.

Assessing equity in effects of nutritional supplementation for child growth, development, and anemia.

Undernutrition in early childhood causes stunted growth, cognitive delays, and anemia, with effects often magnified among children from the poorest households. Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) are effective in addressing undernutrition and improving child development. As momentum builds to scale up SQ-LNS for children aged 6-24 months in the Global South, a key concern is achieving equity in its distribution and outcomes.

WASH interventions and child diarrhea at the interface of climate and socioeconomic position in Bangladesh.

Many diarrhea-causing pathogens are climate-sensitive, and populations with the lowest socioeconomic position (SEP) are often most vulnerable to climate-related transmission. Household Water, Sanitation, and Handwashing (WASH) interventions constitute one potential effective strategy to reduce child diarrhea, especially among low-income households. Capitalizing on a cluster randomized trial population (360 clusters, 4941 children with 8440 measurements) in rural Bangladesh, one of the world's most climate-sensitive regions, we show that improved WASH substantially reduces diarrhea risk with largest benefits among children with lowest SEP and during the monsoon season.

Sick leave due to COVID-19 during the first pandemic wave in France, 2020.

Objectives: To quantify the burden of COVID-19-related sick leave during the first pandemic wave in France, accounting for sick leaves due to symptomatic COVID-19 ('symptomatic sick leaves') and those due to close contact with COVID-19 cases ('contact sick leaves').

Methods: We combined data from a national demographic database, an occupational health survey, a social behaviour survey and a dynamic SARS-CoV-2 transmission model. Sick leave incidence from 1 March 2020 to 31 May 2020 was estimated by summing daily probabilities of symptomatic and contact sick leaves, stratified by age and administrative region.

Quantitative Methods Used to Evaluate Impact of Combination HIV Prevention Intervention: A Methodological Systematic Review.

Combination HIV prevention aims to provide the right mix of biomedical, behavioral and structural interventions, and is considered the best approach to curb the HIV pandemic. The impact evaluation of combined HIV prevention intervention (CHPI) provides critical information for decision making. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to map the designs and methods used in these studies.

Understanding the pathways leading to socioeconomic inequalities in HIV testing uptake in 18 sub-Saharan African countries.

Objective: To better understand the different pathways linking socioeconomic position and HIV testing uptake in 18 sub-Saharan African countries.

Design: We used cross-sectional population-based surveys between 2010 and 2018.

Methods: Using a potential outcomes framework and the product method, we decomposed the total effect linking wealth and recent (<12 months) HIV testing into direct effects, and indirect effects, via internal (related to individual's ability to perceive need for and to seek care) or external (ability to reach, pay for and engage in healthcare) mediators to calculate the proportion mediated (PM) by each mediator.

Monitoring sick leave data for early detection of influenza outbreaks.

Background: Workplace absenteeism increases significantly during influenza epidemics. Sick leave records may facilitate more timely detection of influenza outbreaks, as trends in increased sick leave may precede alerts issued by sentinel surveillance systems by days or weeks. Sick leave data have not been comprehensively evaluated in comparison to traditional surveillance methods.

Temporal trends in socioeconomic inequalities in HIV testing: an analysis of cross-sectional surveys from 16 sub-Saharan African countries.

Background: Overall increases in the uptake of HIV testing in the past two decades might hide discrepancies across socioeconomic groups. We used data from population-based surveys done in sub-Saharan Africa to quantify socioeconomic inequalities in uptake of HIV testing, and to establish trends in testing uptake in the past two decades.

Methods: We analysed data from 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa where at least one Demographic and Health Survey was done before and after 2008.