Optima is a software package for modeling HIV epidemics and interventions that we developed to address practical policy and program problems encountered by funders, governments, health planners, and program implementers. Optima's key feature is its ability to perform resource optimization to meet strategic HIV objectives, including HIV-related financial commitment projections and health economic assessments. Specifically, Optima allows users to choose a set of objectives (such as minimizing new infections, minimizing HIV-related deaths, and/or minimizing long-term financial commitments) and then determine the optimal resource allocation (and thus program coverage levels) for meeting those objectives. These optimizations are based on the following: calibrations to epidemiological data; assumptions about the costs of program implementation and the corresponding coverage levels; and the effects of these programs on clinical, behavioral, and other epidemiological outcomes. Optima is flexible for which population groups (specified by behavioral, epidemiological, and/or geographical factors) and which HIV programs are modeled, the amount of input data used, and the types of outputs generated. Here, we introduce this model and compare it with existing HIV models that have been used previously to inform decisions about HIV program funding and coverage targets. Optima has already been used in more than 20 countries, and there is increasing demand from stakeholders to have a tool that can perform evidence-based HIV epidemic analyses, revise and prioritize national strategies based on available resources, set program coverage targets, amend subnational program implementation plans, and inform the investment strategies of governments and their funding partners.

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Background: Exam-related anxiety is a set of responses that include excessive worry, depression, nervousness, and irrelevant thinking from an individual's experience of assessment or testing and its outcome. Aim: This study was designed to evaluate exam-related anxiety among medical students in Baghdad City. Methods: This study utilized a cross-sectional survey design and was conducted by administering an online questionnaire to medical students (medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy). Results: A total of 530 students participated in the survey; 20.8% of them came from medical colleges, 41.7% from dentistry schools, and 37.5% from pharmacy schools. Around 27.1% of the respondents reported positive test-related anxiety. Conclusion: Exam-related anxiety is frequent among Iraqi medical students in Baghdad and highlights the need for education programs to reduce this anxiety.