Prevention, treatment and future challenges of HIV/AIDS: A decade of INDEPTH research

AimTo present a systematic review that evaluates the contributions of the INDEPTH Network of health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSSs) to research efforts on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries.MethodsPublication titles were sent to INDEPTH by member centres. These were uploaded onto the Zotero research tool from different databases (most from PubMed). We searched for publications using the keyword “HIV” and the publication date. The 540 relevant papers were all published in peer-reviewed English language journals between 1999 and 2012. For a paper to be included in this study it must have extensively tackled the issue of HIV (1), prevention (2) and challenges associated with the treatment. After a thorough review, 89 papers were finally selected.ResultsConsistent condom use has been found to be highly protective against HIV infection. Although women feel at risk of contracting HIV from their partners and many women knew about condoms, they were unable to use them due to the partner's refusal. Infection with STDs is associated with HIV infection, populations with high rates of STDs and high-risk sexual behaviour, interventions to treat STDs can help prevent HIV transmission. The study also found that mother-to-child transmission was 2.7 times higher in infants breastfed for more than six months than in those breastfed for less than six months. The study found that the most promising prevention intervention discovered so far is male circumcision.ConclusionINDEPTH member centres have tracked the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. They have analysed how the virus is transmitted and how it impacts families, communities and economies. Prevention and treatment policies and technologies have also come under scrutiny, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, male circumcision, behaviour change polices, antiretroviral treatment and other key interventions. The robust and extensive data HDSSs have generated provide critical insights to policy-makers as the epidemic moves into its fourth decade.