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What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi

INTRODUCTION: The Malawi Ministry of Health (MoH) has been in collaboration with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) to increase access to quality HIV care through decentralization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) diagnosis and treatment from hospital to clinics in Nsanje District since 2011. A population...

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Autores principales: Conan, Nolwenn, Paye, Cyrus P., Ortuno, Reinaldo, Chijuwa, Alexander, Chiwandira, Brown, Goemaere, Eric, Belen Garone, Daniela, Coulborn, Rebecca M., Chihana, Menard, Maman, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8061928/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33886575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248410
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author Conan, Nolwenn
Paye, Cyrus P.
Ortuno, Reinaldo
Chijuwa, Alexander
Chiwandira, Brown
Goemaere, Eric
Belen Garone, Daniela
Coulborn, Rebecca M.
Chihana, Menard
Maman, David
author_facet Conan, Nolwenn
Paye, Cyrus P.
Ortuno, Reinaldo
Chijuwa, Alexander
Chiwandira, Brown
Goemaere, Eric
Belen Garone, Daniela
Coulborn, Rebecca M.
Chihana, Menard
Maman, David
author_sort Conan, Nolwenn
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The Malawi Ministry of Health (MoH) has been in collaboration with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) to increase access to quality HIV care through decentralization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) diagnosis and treatment from hospital to clinics in Nsanje District since 2011. A population-based household survey was implemented to provide information on HIV prevalence and cascade of care to inform and prioritize community-based HIV interventions in the district. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September 2016 and January 2017. Using two-stage cluster sampling, eligible adult individuals aged ≥15 years living in the selected households were asked to participate. Participants were interviewed and tested for HIV at home. Those tested HIV-positive had their HIV-RNA viral load (VL) measured, regardless of their ART status. All participants tested HIV-positive at the time of the survey were advised to report their HIV test result to the health facility of their choice that MSF was supported in the district. HIV-RNA VL results were made available in this health facility. RESULTS: Among 5,315 eligible individuals, 91.1% were included in the survey and accepted an HIV test. The overall prevalence was 12.1% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 11.2–13.0) and was higher in women than in men: 14.0% versus 9.5%, P<0.001. Overall HIV-positive status awareness was 80.0% (95%CI: 76.4–83.1) and was associated with sex (P<0.05). Linkage to care was 78.0% (95%CI: 74.3–81.2) and participants in care 76.2% (95%CI: 72.4–79.5). ART coverage among participants aware of their HIV-positive status was 95.3% (95%CI: 92.9–96.9) and was not associated with sex (P = 0.55). Viral load suppression among participants on ART was 89.9% (95%CI: 86.6–92.4) and was not statistically different by sex (p = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS: Despite encouraging results in HIV testing coverage, cascade of care, and UNAIDS targets in Nsanje District, some gap remains in the first 90, specifically among men and young adults. Enhanced community engagement and new strategies of testing, such as index testing, could be implemented to identify those who are still undiagnosed, particularly men and young adults.
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spelling pubmed-80619282021-05-04 What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi Conan, Nolwenn Paye, Cyrus P. Ortuno, Reinaldo Chijuwa, Alexander Chiwandira, Brown Goemaere, Eric Belen Garone, Daniela Coulborn, Rebecca M. Chihana, Menard Maman, David PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: The Malawi Ministry of Health (MoH) has been in collaboration with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) to increase access to quality HIV care through decentralization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) diagnosis and treatment from hospital to clinics in Nsanje District since 2011. A population-based household survey was implemented to provide information on HIV prevalence and cascade of care to inform and prioritize community-based HIV interventions in the district. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September 2016 and January 2017. Using two-stage cluster sampling, eligible adult individuals aged ≥15 years living in the selected households were asked to participate. Participants were interviewed and tested for HIV at home. Those tested HIV-positive had their HIV-RNA viral load (VL) measured, regardless of their ART status. All participants tested HIV-positive at the time of the survey were advised to report their HIV test result to the health facility of their choice that MSF was supported in the district. HIV-RNA VL results were made available in this health facility. RESULTS: Among 5,315 eligible individuals, 91.1% were included in the survey and accepted an HIV test. The overall prevalence was 12.1% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 11.2–13.0) and was higher in women than in men: 14.0% versus 9.5%, P<0.001. Overall HIV-positive status awareness was 80.0% (95%CI: 76.4–83.1) and was associated with sex (P<0.05). Linkage to care was 78.0% (95%CI: 74.3–81.2) and participants in care 76.2% (95%CI: 72.4–79.5). ART coverage among participants aware of their HIV-positive status was 95.3% (95%CI: 92.9–96.9) and was not associated with sex (P = 0.55). Viral load suppression among participants on ART was 89.9% (95%CI: 86.6–92.4) and was not statistically different by sex (p = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS: Despite encouraging results in HIV testing coverage, cascade of care, and UNAIDS targets in Nsanje District, some gap remains in the first 90, specifically among men and young adults. Enhanced community engagement and new strategies of testing, such as index testing, could be implemented to identify those who are still undiagnosed, particularly men and young adults. Public Library of Science 2021-04-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8061928/ /pubmed/33886575 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248410 Text en © 2021 Conan et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Conan, Nolwenn
Paye, Cyrus P.
Ortuno, Reinaldo
Chijuwa, Alexander
Chiwandira, Brown
Goemaere, Eric
Belen Garone, Daniela
Coulborn, Rebecca M.
Chihana, Menard
Maman, David
What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title_full What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title_fullStr What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title_full_unstemmed What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title_short What gaps remain in the HIV cascade of care? Results of a population-based survey in Nsanje District, Malawi
title_sort what gaps remain in the hiv cascade of care? results of a population-based survey in nsanje district, malawi
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8061928/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33886575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248410
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