Rates and Correlates of HIV Incidence in Namibia's Zambezi Region From 2014 to 2016: Sentinel, Community-Based Cohort Study.

Andrew D Maher Tuli Nakanyala Nicholus Mutenda Karen M Banda Dimitri Prybylski Adam Wolkon Anna Jonas Souleymane Sawadogo Charity Ntema Melody Regina Chipadze Grace Sinvula Annastasia Tizora Asen Mwandemele Shaan Chaturvedi Afiba Manza-A Agovi Simon Agolory Ndapewa Hamunime David W Lowrance William McFarland Sadhna V Patel

Published in: JMIR public health and surveillance (2020)

Nearly three decades into Namibia's generalized HIV epidemic, these are the first estimates of HIV incidence for its highest prevalence region. By creating a sentinel incidence cohort from the infrastructure of an existing community-based testing program, we were able to characterize current transmission patterns, corroborate known risk factors for HIV acquisition, and provide insight into the efficacy of prevention interventions in a subnational epidemic hotspot. This study demonstrates an efficient and scalable framework for longitudinal HIV incidence surveillance that can be implemented in diverse sentinel sites and populations.

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