Beyond Training: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis of Healthcare Professionals' Experiences Providing Culturally Competent Antepartum and Intrapartum Care to Ethnic Minoritized Women.

Background: Ethnic minoritized women face cultural and systemic barriers in accessing antepartum and intrapartum care. Healthcare providers play a pivotal role in addressing these challenges, but their perspectives and experiences in delivering culturally competent care remain underexplored.

Aim: To synthesise healthcare providers' experiences and perspectives on providing culturally competent antepartum and intrapartum care for ethnic minoritised women.

Increasing Rigor in Online Health Surveys Through the Reduction of Fraudulent Data.

Online surveys have become a key tool of modern health research, offering a fast, cost-effective, and convenient means of data collection. It enables researchers to access diverse populations, such as those underrepresented in traditional studies, and facilitates the collection of stigmatized or sensitive behaviors through greater anonymity. However, the ease of participation also introduces significant challenges, particularly around data integrity and rigor.

HIV, STI, and Hepatitis Among People Who Inject Drugs at a Sexual Health Clinic in Melbourne, Australia: 2012 to 2022.

Background: This study aimed to examine the sexual practices and sexually transmitted infection (STI) positivity among people who inject drugs (PWID).

Methods: This was a repeated cross-sectional study analyzing data collected at a sexual health center during 2012-2022. New clients who were aged 18 and older, sexually active, and had injected drugs in the last 12 months were eligible for inclusion.

Using photovoice to explore HIV self-testing and secondary distribution of HIV self-testing among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in China.

Background Human immunodeficiency virus self-testing (HIVST) has been globally recognized as a useful and reliable strategy to promote HIV testing, especially among marginalized populations. To improve the understanding of HIVST uptake of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in China, this study aims to qualitatively explore the HIVST uptake experiences among this population. Methods The study employed photovoice methodology, theoretically built on documentary photography and critical consciousness, to explore the experiences of HIVST and secondary distribution among GBMSM in China.

Modelling the potential spread of Clade Ib MPXV in Asian cities.

Background: The ongoing 2023-2024 mpox outbreak in several African countries, driven by the novel Clade Ib strain, has resulted in imported cases being reported in Sweden, Thailand and India. The potential high transmissibility of this new strain and shifts in transmission modes may make territories in Asia, which were minimally affected by previous mpox waves, susceptible to community-wide transmission following importation. While this highlights the importance of early preparedness, current knowledge of the virus's transmission dynamics remains too limited to effectively inform policymaking and resource planning.

Engaging citizens to conduct large-scale qualitative research: lessons learnt from a community-engaged research project on queer men's lived experiences of health in Singapore.

Introduction HIV science has made significant progress, but community engagement in some contexts remains suboptimal, with marginalized and key populations being left behind. Discriminatory policies, medical mistrust, stigma and a lack of resources remain key roadblocks. Citizen-led, community-engaged approaches hold promise in subverting power structures that reproduce such barriers and allow us to leverage community resources.

Blind spots in community-based participatory research with sex workers in Singapore: lessons learned and assumptions uncovered in the context of a diverse, hierarchical and stigmatized key population.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is quickly becoming an ethical standard for research, ensuring that the research processes align with the values of beneficiaries and contributes to broader social justice goals. This paper reflects on a qualitative study on HIV/STI risks in the sex work industry in Singapore that aimed to adopt a CBPR approach. The project was conducted in partnership with a local sex workers' rights group, Project X, and recruited community members to be part of the research team.

Is Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific ready for potential monkeypox virus outbreaks?

The new variant of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) clade Ib has recently spread to other African countries outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), prompting the World Health Organisation to declare the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). This comes just two years after the initial PHEIC that was issued for the clade IIb outbreaks. Compared to the clade IIb outbreaks, clade Ib shows a demographic shift, including higher case fatality rates for younger individuals, indicating a possibility of additional transmission pathways through heterosexual and household contacts.

iPARTY study: Increasing pre-exposure prophylaxis access and reach via telehealth for young men who have sex with men in Singapore 2022-2023.

Introduction: Although pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been available in Singapore since 2016, its uptake among gay, bisexual and other men-who-have-sex-with-men (GBMSM) is low. The iPARTY study was established to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of PrEP and a PrEP teleconsultation service for young GBMSM aged 18 to 29 years.

Method: A total of 53 young GBMSM were enrolled in the iPARTY study.

Correction: Potential public health impacts of gonorrhea vaccination programmes under declining incidences: A modeling study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.

Telemedicine Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 8 Countries From the International Sexual Health and Reproductive Health Consortium: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Background: Telemedicine is an important way to fill in the access gap to in-person health care services during challenging times like pandemics.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the role that telemedicine played during the COVID-19 pandemic by multicountry comparison of the use of telemedicine prior to and during the pandemic.

Methods: This study analyzes data from the second wave of the International Sexual Health and Reproductive Health study.

Potential public health impacts of gonorrhea vaccination programmes under declining incidences: A modeling study.

Background: Gonorrhea is the second most common sexually transmitted disease notified in Singapore in 2023. Evidence suggests that the 4CMenB vaccine designed to protect against Neisseria meningitidis infection may offer partial cross-protection against gonorrhea. This generated interest in using 4CMenB for the purpose of staving gonorrhea transmission.

Sociodemographic characteristics, community engagement and stigma among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) who attend MSM-led versus public sexual health clinics: A cross-sectional survey in China.

Community-based sexual health services are recommended to increase sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing among men who have sex with men (MSM). Pilot study data from multiple sites found that MSM in Guangzhou who use public STD clinics were found to have different sociodemographic characteristics, lower community engagement, and increased social cohesion, compared to MSM who use MSM-led clinics.

Fear really comes from the unknowns: exploring the impact of HIV stigma and discrimination on quality of life for people living with HIV in Singapore through the minority stress model.

Background Structural stigma and institutionalised discrimination towards people living with HIV remain pervasive in many settings. However, qualitative explorations of experiences of stigma, health and social service engagement, and quality of life among people living with HIV in Singapore remain under-researched. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 73 participants in Singapore.

Youth engagement and social innovation in health in low-and-middle-income countries: Analysis of a global youth crowdsourcing open call.

Social innovation in health is a ground-up, community-engaged process that draws on the diverse strengths of local individuals to drive social change and health improvement. Social innovation may be particularly useful in low and middle-income countries to ensure effective and sustainable health solutions. The purpose of this study is to describe the findings of a global youth (18-35 years old) crowdsourcing open call on social innovations, and to identify the levels of engagement in such innovations.

Chemsex as lines of flight? Critical Deleuzean perspectives on chemical intimacies.

Background: Public health scholars informed by a dominant biomedical paradigm have in their 'rush to risk' emphasised the problematic aspects of chemsex. Meanwhile, critical chemsex scholars have attemped to destigmatise such sexual-chemical practices and foreground how they can be transformative. Taking these two perspectives as points of departure, we make a case for understanding chemsex vis-à-vis Deleuzean lines of flight.

Receptiveness to monkeypox vaccines and public health communication strategies among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Singapore: cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative insights.

Objectives: Monkeypox (mpox) was declared as a global health emergency by the WHO, with most reported cases disproportionately involving gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). This study explored the willingness of Singaporean GBMSM to receive mpox vaccines and engage in changes to sexual behaviour, and analysed the factors influencing both decisions.

Methods: An online cross-sectional study was disseminated through community groups and Grindr from September to October 2022 among GBMSM in Singapore, where we surveyed respondents' demographics, stigma associated with mpox, perceived risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and changes to sexual behaviours in response to mpox.

Adapting an artificial intelligence sexually transmitted diseases symptom checker tool for Mpox detection: the HeHealth experience.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications have shown promise in the management of pandemics. In response to the global Monkeypox (Mpox) outbreak, the HeHealth.ai team leveraged an existing tool to screen for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) to develop a digital screening test for symptomatic Mpox using AI.

A Machine Learning Model for Identifying Sexual Health Influencers to Promote the Secondary Distribution of HIV Self-Testing Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Quasi-Experimental Study.

Background: Sexual health influencers (SHIs) are individuals actively sharing sexual health information with their peers, and they play an important role in promoting HIV care services, including the secondary distribution of HIV self-testing (SD-HIVST). Previous studies used a 6-item empirical leadership scale to identify SHIs. However, this approach may be biased as it does not consider individuals' social networks.

Navigating drug use, cessation, and recovery: a retrospective case notes review among sexual minority men at a community-based service in Singapore.

Background: In Singapore, where drug use is a highly stigmatized and criminalized issue, there is limited understanding of the challenges faced by individuals, particularly sexual minority men, in their journey towards recovery from substance dependence or addiction. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the driving forces behind drug use, the factors contributing to drug cessation, and the elements influencing the recovery process.

Methods: Data were extracted from clinical records provided by  The Greenhouse Community Services Limited between January 2020 to May 2022.

Acute facial neuralgia related to initiation of emtricitabine/tenofovir for HIV PrEP: a report of two cases in a PrEP demonstration trial.

Background: Emtricitabine (FTC) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) fixed-dose combination (FTC/TDF) is generally well-tolerated, although treatment-related adverse events have been reported.

Methods: We report two cases of persons using FTC/TDF PrEP who had acute neuralgia in a Chinese PrEP demonstration trial.

Results: Neurological symptoms subsided upon treatment discontinuation.