Pediatric and adolescent HIV viral load coverage and suppression rates in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in 12 PEPFAR-supported sub-Saharan African countries in 2019 and 2020.

The early period of the COVID-19 pandemic limited access to HIV services for children and adolescents living with HIV (C/ALHIV). To determine progress in providing care and treatment services, we describe viral load coverage (VLC) and suppression (VLS) (<1000 copies/ mL) rates during the COVID-19 pandemic in 12 United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)-supported countries. Data for children (0-9 years) and adolescents (10-19 years) on VLC and VLS were analyzed for 12 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and 2020 (during COVID-19).

Impact of HIV treat-all and complementary policies on ART linkage in 13 PEPFAR-supported African countries.

Background: In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended that all people living with HIV begin antiretroviral treatment (ART) regardless of immune status, a policy known as 'Treat-All to end AIDS', commonly referred to as Treat-All. Almost all low- and middle-income countries adopted this policy by 2019. This study describes how linkage to treatment of newly diagnosed persons changed between 2015 and 2018 and how complementary policies may have similarly increased linkage for 13 African countries.

Improving Services for HIV-Exposed Infants in Zambia and Cameroon Using a Quality Improvement Collaborative Approach.

Introduction: Early infant diagnosis (EID) and rapid antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation are lifesaving interventions for HIV-infected infants. In Cameroon and Zambia, EID coverage for HIV-exposed infants (HEIs) is suboptimal and the time to ART initiation for infants infected with HIV often exceeds national standards despite numerous policy and training initiatives.

Methods: ICAP at Columbia University supported the Cameroon and Zambia Ministries of Health (MOHs) and local partners to implement quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) to improve EID coverage and ART initiation at 17 health facilities (HFs) in Cameroon (March 2016 to June 2017) and 15 HFs in Zambia (March 2017 to June 2018).