Factors associated with an unsuppressed viral load among HIV-positive individuals attending STI services in South Africa, 2019.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateAll the methods performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations by the University of Witwatersrand Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC NUM: M181071) into which this study is embedded. Participants enrolled in the STI surveillance study had informed consent before answering the questionnaire and provide blood samples using anonymous and barcoded samples for privacy and confidentiality. . The Assessor group during the protocol assessment on 22 April 2020 at the University of the Witwatersrand ethics committee waived the need for ethics approval and the need to obtain Informed consent for the analysis and publication of the retrospectively obtained and anonymized data for this study. To analyse the data, permission from the primary study Principal Investigator (DR Tendesayi Kufa-Chakezha) was obtained. Patient personal identifiers were de-identified to maintain confidentiality. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests."

"Funding The primary study from which the data used for analysis was drawn was funded in part by the National Department of Health through a core funding grant to the Centre for HIV and STI and the Polio Research Foundation through research grant 18/03 awarded to Dr. Tendesayi Kufa."