Strengthening and utilizing response groups for emergencies flagship: a narrative review of the roll out process and lessons from the first year of implementation.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) faces members who encounter annual disease epidemics and natural disasters that necessitate immediate deployment and a trained health workforce to respond. The gaps in this regard, further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, led to conceptualizing the Strengthening and Utilizing Response Group for Emergencies (SURGE) flagship in 2021. This study aimed to present the experience of the WHO/AFRO in the stepwise roll-out process and the outcome, as well as to elucidate the lessons learned across the pilot countries throughout the first year of implementation.

Factors associated with loss to clinic among HIV patients not yet known to be eligible for antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Mozambique.

Introduction: Retention in HIV care prior to ART initiation is generally felt to be suboptimal, but has not been well-characterized.

Methods: We examined data on 37,352 adult pre-ART patients (ART ineligible or unknown eligibility) who enrolled in care during 2005-2008 with >1 clinical visit at 23 clinics in Mozambique. We defined loss to clinic (LTC) as >12 months since the last visit among those not known to have died/transferred.

Factors associated with late antiretroviral therapy initiation among adults in Mozambique.

Background: Despite recent changes to expand the ART eligibility criteria in sub-Saharan Africa, many patients still initiate ART in the advanced stages of HIV infection, which contributes to increased early mortality rates, poor patient outcomes, and onward transmission.

Methods: To evaluate individual and clinic-level factors associated with late ART initiation in Mozambique, we conducted a retrospective sex-specific analysis of data from 36,411 adult patients who started ART between January 2005 and June 2009 at 25 HIV clinics in Mozambique. Late ART initiation was defined as CD4 count<100 cells/µL or WHO stage IV.

Patients enrolled in HIV care in Mozambique: baseline characteristics and follow-up outcomes.

Objective: To utilize routinely collected service delivery data from HIV care and treatment clinics in Mozambique to describe the patient population and programmatic outcomes from 2003 to 2009.

Methods: Data from patient charts were entered into an electronic database at 28 clinics in 5 Mozambican provinces. Patients' characteristics at enrollment in HIV care and at antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation were examined.