Effects of a Peer-Led Intervention on HIV Care Continuum Outcomes Among Contacts of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Living With HIV in Zimbabwe.

Background: Africaid Zvandiri, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) in Zimbabwe, implemented a comprehensive, peer-led program, focused on children, adolescents, and young adults living with HIV aged 0-24 years. The peers, known as community adolescent treatment supporters (CATS), are people living with HIV (PLHIV) aged 18-24 years who are trained and mentored to support their peers throughout the HIV care continuum through support groups, home visits, phone call reminders, and messages. We report the HIV care continuum outcomes (HIV testing uptake, antiretroviral therapy [ART] uptake, retention, and viral suppression) in a cohort of household contacts and sexual partners (aged younger than 25 years) of index children, adolescents, and young adults living with HIV identified by CATS from October 2017 to September 2018 in 24 districts of Zimbabwe.

Retesting for verification of HIV diagnosis before antiretroviral therapy initiation in Harare, Zimbabwe: Is there a gap between policy and practice?

Background: WHO recommends retesting of HIV-positive patients before starting antiretroviral therapy (ART). There is no evidence on implementation of retesting guidelines from programmatic settings. We aimed to assess implementation of HIV retesting among clients diagnosed HIV-positive in the public health facilities of Harare, Zimbabwe, in June 2017.

Health worker text messaging for blended learning, peer support, and mentoring in pediatric and adolescent HIV/AIDS care: a case study in Zimbabwe.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, shortages of trained healthcare workers and limited resources necessitate innovative and cost-effective approaches for training, supervising, and mentoring. This qualitative case study describes participants' and trainers' perspectives and experiences with a text messaging component of a blended training course in HIV counseling and testing in Zimbabwe, using minimal resources in terms of staff time and equipment requirements. This component included a whole-group discussion forum as well as two-person partner discussions designed to promote reflection and analysis, teamwork, and active learning.

An assessment of the Zimbabwe ministry of health and child welfare provider initiated HIV testing and counselling programme.

Background: Provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) is widely recommended to ensure timely treatment of HIV. The Zimbabwe Ministry of Health introduced PITC in 2007. We aimed to evaluate institutional capacity to implement PITC and investigate patient and health care worker (HCW) perceptions of the PITC programme.