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Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa

HIV counseling and testing (HCT) is critical for children in generalized epidemic settings, but significant shortfalls in coverage persist, notably among orphans and others at disproportionate risk of infection. This study investigates the impact of a home visiting program in South Africa on orphane...

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Autores principales: Thurman, Tonya R., Luckett, Brian, Taylor, Tory, Carnay, Melissa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27391993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2016.1176679
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author Thurman, Tonya R.
Luckett, Brian
Taylor, Tory
Carnay, Melissa
author_facet Thurman, Tonya R.
Luckett, Brian
Taylor, Tory
Carnay, Melissa
author_sort Thurman, Tonya R.
collection PubMed
description HIV counseling and testing (HCT) is critical for children in generalized epidemic settings, but significant shortfalls in coverage persist, notably among orphans and others at disproportionate risk of infection. This study investigates the impact of a home visiting program in South Africa on orphaned and vulnerable children’s uptake of HCT. Using propensity score matching, survey data for children receiving home visits from trained community-based care workers were compared to data from children living in similar households that had not yet received home visits (n = 1324). Home visits by community-based care workers increased the odds of a child being tested by 97% (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.34–2.92). The home visitation program had an especially pronounced effect on orphans, more than doubling their odds of being tested (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.00–4.47) compared to orphans living in similar households that did not receive home visits. Orphan status alone had no effect on HCT independent of program exposure, suggesting that the program was uniquely able to increase testing in this subgroup. Results highlight the potential for increasing HCT access among children at high risk through targeted community-based initiatives.
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spelling pubmed-49912272016-09-06 Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa Thurman, Tonya R. Luckett, Brian Taylor, Tory Carnay, Melissa AIDS Care Articles HIV counseling and testing (HCT) is critical for children in generalized epidemic settings, but significant shortfalls in coverage persist, notably among orphans and others at disproportionate risk of infection. This study investigates the impact of a home visiting program in South Africa on orphaned and vulnerable children’s uptake of HCT. Using propensity score matching, survey data for children receiving home visits from trained community-based care workers were compared to data from children living in similar households that had not yet received home visits (n = 1324). Home visits by community-based care workers increased the odds of a child being tested by 97% (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.34–2.92). The home visitation program had an especially pronounced effect on orphans, more than doubling their odds of being tested (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.00–4.47) compared to orphans living in similar households that did not receive home visits. Orphan status alone had no effect on HCT independent of program exposure, suggesting that the program was uniquely able to increase testing in this subgroup. Results highlight the potential for increasing HCT access among children at high risk through targeted community-based initiatives. Taylor & Francis 2016-05-26 2016-07-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4991227/ /pubmed/27391993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2016.1176679 Text en © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Articles
Thurman, Tonya R.
Luckett, Brian
Taylor, Tory
Carnay, Melissa
Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title_full Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title_fullStr Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title_short Promoting uptake of child HIV testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa
title_sort promoting uptake of child hiv testing: an evaluation of the role of a home visiting program for orphans and vulnerable children in south africa
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27391993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2016.1176679
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