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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Date Submitted: Sep 5, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 6, 2018 - Sep 20, 2018
Date Accepted: May 9, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Estimating the Size of Key Populations in Kampala, Uganda: 3-Source Capture-Recapture Study

Doshi RH, Apodaca K, Ogwal M, Bain R, Amene E, Kiyingi H, Aluzimbi G, Musinguzi G, Serwadda D, McIntyre AF, Hladik W

Estimating the Size of Key Populations in Kampala, Uganda: 3-Source Capture-Recapture Study

JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019;5(3):e12118

DOI: 10.2196/12118

PMID: 31407673

PMCID: 6771531

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Estimating the Size of Key Populations in Kampala, Uganda: 3-Source Capture-Recapture Study

  • Reena H Doshi; 
  • Kevin Apodaca; 
  • Moses Ogwal; 
  • Rommel Bain; 
  • Ermias Amene; 
  • Herbert Kiyingi; 
  • George Aluzimbi; 
  • Geofrey Musinguzi; 
  • David Serwadda; 
  • Anne F McIntyre; 
  • Wolfgang Hladik

Background:

Key populations, including people who inject drugs (PWID), men who have sex with men (MSM), and female sex workers (FSW), are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. Understanding the magnitude of, and informing the public health response to, the HIV epidemic among these populations requires accurate size estimates. However, low social visibility poses challenges to these efforts.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to derive population size estimates of PWID, MSM, and FSW in Kampala using capture-recapture.

Methods:

Between June and October 2017, unique objects were distributed to the PWID, MSM, and FSW populations in Kampala. PWID, MSM, and FSW were each sampled during 3 independent captures; unique objects were offered in captures 1 and 2. PWID, MSM, and FSW sampled during captures 2 and 3 were asked if they had received either or both of the distributed objects. All captures were completed 1 week apart. The numbers of PWID, MSM, and FSW receiving one or both objects were determined. Population size estimates were derived using the Lincoln-Petersen method for 2-source capture-recapture (PWID) and Bayesian nonparametric latent-class model for 3-source capture-recapture (MSM and FSW).

Results:

We sampled 467 PWID in capture 1 and 450 in capture 2; a total of 54 PWID were captured in both. We sampled 542, 574, and 598 MSM in captures 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There were 70 recaptures between captures 1 and 2, 103 recaptures between captures 2 and 3, and 155 recaptures between captures 1 and 3. There were 57 MSM captured in all 3 captures. We sampled 962, 965, and 1417 FSW in captures 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There were 316 recaptures between captures 1 and 2, 214 recaptures between captures 2 and 3, and 235 recaptures between captures 1 and 3. There were 109 FSW captured in all 3 rounds. The estimated number of PWID was 3892 (3090-5126), the estimated number of MSM was 14,019 (95% credible interval (CI) 4995-40,949), and the estimated number of FSW was 8848 (95% CI 6337-17,470).

Conclusions:

Our population size estimates for PWID, MSM, and FSW in Kampala provide critical population denominator data to inform HIV prevention and treatment programs. The 3-source capture-recapture is a feasible method to advance key population size estimation.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Doshi RH, Apodaca K, Ogwal M, Bain R, Amene E, Kiyingi H, Aluzimbi G, Musinguzi G, Serwadda D, McIntyre AF, Hladik W

Estimating the Size of Key Populations in Kampala, Uganda: 3-Source Capture-Recapture Study

JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019;5(3):e12118

DOI: 10.2196/12118

PMID: 31407673

PMCID: 6771531

Per the author's request the PDF is not available.

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