Motivating people living with HIV to initiate antiretroviral treatment outside national guidelines in three clinics in the HPTN 071 (PopART) trial, South Africa.

Background: The HPTN 071 (PopART) trial implemented universal test and treat (UTT) in three clinics in the Western Cape, South Africa at a time when antiretroviral treatment (ART) was only offered by CD4 threshold and World Health Organization clinical staging. This required a concomitant shift in the way health workers communicated ART initiation messages. We provide insight into front-line ART initiation communication pre-national policy shift.Method: The design of this study was exploratory with a case descriptive analysis of ART initiation in three clinics. To characterise their demographic profiles, we reviewed 134 randomly selected patient clinical folders of people who initiated ART at CD4 counts greater than the recommended standard. Further, we conducted 12 key informant interviews with health workers at these facilities and thematically analysed health workers' responses.Results: The median age of patients initiating ART regardless of CD4 count (above the threshold level) was 33 years and most were women (73.9%), married (76.1%), and unemployed (48.5%). The median CD4 count of patients initiating outside guidelines was 566.5 cells/µl. Contrary to expectations, key informants indicated no radical shift in messaging to explain ART initiation regardless of CD4 count. Rather, they encouraged people living with HIV (PLHIV) to initiate ART while they still "feel well". The reduced risk of onward HIV transmission did not factor significantly in how health workers motivated clients.Conclusion: Motivating PLHIV to initiate ART regardless of CD4 count in high burden settings is possible. However, there are still opportunities to improve messaging about immediate ART initiation or at high CD4 counts for the prevention of onward transmission.

Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Introduction in South Africa: Implementation Lessons From an Evaluation of the National School-Based Vaccination Campaign.

BACKGROUND: In April 2014, a national school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program was rolled out in South Africa, targeting Grade 4 girls aged ≥9 years. A bivalent HPV vaccine with a 2-dose (6 months apart) schedule was used. At the request of the National Department of Health (NDoH), we conducted an external assessment of the first-dose phase of the vaccination program to evaluate program coverage and vaccine safety and identify factors that influenced implementation. METHODS: We based our cross-sectional and mixed-methods approach on a process evaluation framework, which included a review of key planning and implementation documents and monitoring data; observation at vaccination sites; key informant interviews (N=34); and an assessment of media coverage and content related to the campaign.Findings: There was overall success in key measures of coverage and safety. Over 350,000 Grade 4 girls were vaccinated in more than 16,000 public schools across South Africa, which translated to 94.6% of schools reached and 86.6% of age-eligible learners vaccinated. No major adverse events following immunization were detected. We attributed the campaign's successes to careful planning and coordination and strong leadership from the NDoH. The primary challenges we identified were related to obtaining informed consent, vulnerabilities in cold chain capacity, and onsite management of minor adverse events. While campaign planners anticipated and prepared for some negative media coverage, they did not expect the use of social media for spreading misinformation about HPV vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: The first phase of the national school-based HPV vaccination campaign was successfully implemented at scale in this setting. Future implementation will require improvement in the storage and monitoring of vaccine doses, better communication of role expectations to all stakeholders, and streamlined consent processes to ensure program sustainability.

Are countries using global fund support to implement HIV drug resistance surveillance? A review of funded HIV grants.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) is the largest funder of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment programs worldwide. Since 2002, the Global Fund has encouraged grant recipients to implement drug resistance surveillance (DRS) as part of treatment programs. We reviewed documentation of 147 grants funded in 2004-2008 (funding rounds 4-8) to assess grantees' use of funds to support HIV DRS. Overall, 94 grants (64%) described HIV DRS as part of the national treatment program. However, only 32 grants (22%) specifically documented DRS as a grant-funded activity. This review provides baseline information suggesting limited use by countries of Global Fund financing to support HIV DRS. Additional assessment is required to evaluate barriers to using Global Fund grants to support DRS.

HIV drug resistance early warning indicators in cohorts of individuals starting antiretroviral therapy between 2004 and 2009: World Health Organization global report from 50 countries.

The World Health Organization developed a set of human immunodeficiency virus drug resistance (HIVDR) early warning indicators (EWIs) to assess antiretroviral therapy clinic and program factors associated with HIVDR. EWIs are monitored by abstracting data routinely recorded in clinical records, and the results enable clinics and program managers to identify problems that should be addressed to minimize preventable emergence of HIVDR in clinic populations. As of June 2011, 50 countries monitored EWIs, covering 131 686 patients initiating antiretroviral treatment between 2004 and 2009 at 2107 clinics. HIVDR prevention is associated with patient care (appropriate prescribing and patient monitoring), patient behavior (adherence), and clinic/program management efforts to reduce treatment interruptions (follow up, retention on first-line ART, procurement and supply management of antiretroviral drugs). EWIs measure these factors and the results have been used to optimize patient and population treatment outcomes.