Fundamental concerns of women living with HIV around the implementation of Option B+.

Introduction: In 2011, the Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive was launched to scale up efforts to comprehensively end vertical HIV transmission and support mothers living with HIV in remaining healthy. Amidst excitement around using treatment as prevention, Malawi's Ministry of Health conceived Option B+, a strategy used to prevent vertical transmission by initiating all pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV on lifelong antiretroviral therapy, irrespective of CD4 count. In 2013, for programmatic and operational reasons, the WHO officially recommended Option B+ to countries with generalized epidemics, limited access to CD4 testing, limited partner testing, long breastfeeding duration or high fertility rates.

Community and service provider views to inform the 2013 WHO consolidated antiretroviral guidelines: key findings and lessons learnt.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate community and healthcare worker (HCW) values and preferences on key topics to inform the development of the 2013 WHO consolidated guidelines for antiretroviral therapy in low and middle income countries.

Design: Cross-sectional e-survey and e-forum discussion; focus group discussions (FGDs)

Methods: : Data were collected on community perspectives regarding a range of potential clinical and operational recommendations in the 2013 guidelines between November 2012 and January 2013 through an e-survey (n = 1088) and e-forum (n = 955). Additional FGDs were held with people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Malawi and Uganda (n = 88) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) use among pregnant women.