Trop Med Int Health
February 2024
Background: Little is known about isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) completion rates among children or adolescents compared to adults living with HIV in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis including children, adolescents, and adults living with HIV who were treated at FHI360 and partners-implemented HIV care programs at six health zones in Kinshasa, DRC, from 2004 to 2020. The primary outcome was the proportion of children, adolescents versus adults who did complete 6 months of daily self-administered IPT.
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in unique programmatic opportunities to test hypotheses related to the initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) and viral load (VL) suppression during a global health crisis, which would not otherwise have been possible.
Objectives: To generate practice-relevant evidence on the impact of initiating ART pre-COVID-19 versus during the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV VL.
Method: Logistic regression was performed on data covering 6596 persons with HIV whose VL data were available, out of 36 585 persons who were initiated on ART between 01 April 2019 and 30 March 2021.
Background: Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are a high-risk group for HIV infection, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Purpose: This study aims to portray the socioeconomic profile of OVC and examine the association of household and parent/guardian characteristics with the HIV status of OVC.
Methods: For this quantitative retrospective study, we obtained data from ICAP/DRC for a total of 1,624 OVC from households enrolled for social, financial, and clinical services between January 2017 and April 2020 in two provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haut-Katanga and Kinshasa.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic extends beyond the immediate physical effects of the virus, including service adjustments for people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Purpose: To compare treatment interruptions in the year immediately pre-COVID-19 and after the onset of COVID-19 (10 April 2020 to 30 March 2021). Methods: We analyze quantitative data covering 36,585 persons with HIV who initiated antiretroviral treatment (ART) between 1 April 2019 and 30 March 2021 at 313 HIV/AIDS care clinics in the Haut-Katanga and Kinshasa provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), using Firth’s logistic regression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections and less-than-optimal care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) continue to challenge public health and clinical care organizations in the communities that are most impacted by HIV. In the era of evidence-based public health, it is imperative to monitor viral load (VL) in PLHIV according to global and national guidelines and assess the factors associated with variation in VL levels.
Purpose: This study had two objectives-(a) to describe the levels of HIV VL in persons on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and (b) to analyze the significance of variation in VL by patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, outcomes of HIV care, and geographic characteristics of HIV care facilities.
(1) Background: In resource-limited countries, patients with tuberculosis (TB)/HIV coinfection commonly face economic, sociocultural, and behavioral barriers to effective treatment. These barriers manifest from low treatment literacy, poverty, gender inequality, malnutrition, societal stigmas regarding HIV, and an absence of available care. It is critical for intervention programs to understand and assist in overcoming these barriers and any additional risks encountered by patients with TB/HIV coinfection.
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