A Successful Model of Expedited Antiretroviral Therapy for Clinically Stable Patients Living With HIV in Haiti.

Background: Recommendations for universal antiretroviral therapy have greatly increased the number of HIV-infected patients who qualify for treatment, particularly with early clinical disease. Less intensive models of care are needed for clinically stable patients.

Setting: A rapid pathway (RP) model of expedited outpatient care for clinically stable patients was implemented at the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) Center, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Cholera vaccination in urban Haiti.

Successful and sustained efforts have been made to curtail the major cholera epidemic that occurred in Haiti in 2010 with the promotion of hygiene and sanitation measures, training of health personnel and establishment of treatment centers nationwide. Oral cholera vaccine (OCV) was introduced by the Haitian Ministry of Health as a pilot project in urban and rural areas. This paper reports the successful OCV pilot project led by GHESKIO Centers in the urban slums of Port-au-Prince where 52,357 persons received dose 1 and 90.

The use of an educational video during informed consent in an HIV clinical trial in Haiti.

Background: Research volunteers from developing countries who enroll in HIV clinical trials may be illiterate and unfamiliar with the conduct of medical research. Educating volunteers about the contents of the consent form is essential but can be difficult and time consuming. We evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of an educational video during the informed consent process for an HIV clinical trial conducted in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The feasibility, demand, and effect of integrating primary care services with HIV voluntary counseling and testing: evaluation of a 15-year experience in Haiti, 1985-2000.

Background: HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) may be an effective strategy to prevent transmission of HIV in developing countries. Hypothesizing that primary care services and HIV VCT have synergistic benefits, we examine the feasibility, the demand, and the effect of integrating on-site primary care services into VCT at a stand-alone VCT center in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Methods: Through a retrospective review of patient records, we describe the integration of primary care services at the Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) VCT center between1985 and 2000.

Comprehension during informed consent in a less-developed country.

Few practical guidelines exist on how to ensure that research participants in less-developed countries understand the consent form before enrollment. In a study of HIV-1 transmission in Haiti, participants were required to pass an oral examination on the contents of the consent form with a passing score of 12/15 (80%) before enrollment. 15 individuals were given information during a single meeting with a physician, and three (20%) passed.