Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres.

Background: Sexual assault (SA) can induce a negative impact on victims' mental health. Specialised SA services generally offer medical care and a forensic examination to SA victims. However, there is a large variation in how these services provide mental health support.

Factors Related to Police Reporting in Sexual Assault Care Centers: Are We Underestimating the Role of Support Persons?

Few victims of sexual assault (SA) report to the police. Research on the role of support persons in victims' reporting is sparse. We address this gap by examining the association of victim, assailant, victimization incident, and support characteristics with reporting rates among victims attending sexual assault care centers (SACCs).

Piloting sexual assault care centres in Belgium: who do they reach and what care is offered?

Background: Sexual assault (SA) is highly prevalent in Belgium. In order to mitigate the negative consequences for victims of acute SA, Sexual Assault Care Centres (SACCs) were piloted from October 2017 to October 2018 in three Belgian hospitals. SACCs offer medical and psychological care, forensic examination and the possibility to report to the police at the SACC.

"We are part of a family". Benefits and limitations of community ART groups (CAGs) in Thyolo, Malawi: a qualitative study.

Introduction: In 2012 Community ART Groups (CAGs), a community-based model of antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery were piloted in Thyolo District, Malawi as a way to overcome patient barriers to accessing treatment, and to decrease healthcare workers' workload. CAGs are self-formed groups of patients on ART taking turns to collect ART refills for all group members from the health facility. We conducted a qualitative study to assess the benefits and challenges of CAGs from patients' and healthcare workers' (HCWs) perspectives.

"They just come, pick and go." The Acceptability of Integrated Medication Adherence Clubs for HIV and Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Patients in Kibera, Kenya.

Introduction: The number of people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the long-term management of HIV in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is continuing to increase, along with the prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The need to provide large volumes of HIV patients with ART has led to significant adaptations in how medication is delivered, but access to NCD care remains limited in many contexts. Medication Adherence Clubs (MACs) were established in Kibera, Kenya to address the large numbers of patients requiring chronic HIV and/or NCD care.

Sustaining the future of HIV counselling to reach 90-90-90: a regional country analysis.

Introduction: Counselling services are recommended by the World Health Organization and have been partially adopted by national HIV guidelines. In settings with a high HIV burden, patient education and counselling is often performed by lay workers, mainly supported with international funding. There are few examples where ministries of health have been able to absorb lay counsellors into their health systems or otherwise sustain their work.

The uncertain future of lay counsellors: continuation of HIV services in Lesotho under pressure.

Between 2006 and 2011, when antiretroviral therapy (ART) was scaled up in a context of severe human resources shortages, transferring responsibility for elements in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care from conventional health workers to lay counsellors (LCs) contributed to increased uptake of HIV services in Lesotho. HIV tests rose from 79 394 in 2006 to 274 240 in 2011 and, in that same period, the number of people on ART increased from 17 352 to 83 624. However, since 2012, the jobs of LCs have been at risk because of financial and organizational challenges.

Outcomes from the implementation of a counselling model supporting rapid antiretroviral treatment initiation in a primary healthcare clinic in Khayelitsha, South Africa.

Background: Lengthy antiretroviral treatment (ART) preparation contributes to high losses to care between communicating ART eligibility and initiating ART. To address this shortfall, Médecins Sans Frontières implemented a revised approach to ART initiation counselling preparation (integrated for TB co-infected patients), shifting the emphasis from pre-initiation sessions to addressing common barriers to adherence and strengthening post-initiation support in a primary healthcare facility in Khayelitsha, South Africa.

Methods: An observational cohort study was conducted using routinely collected data for all ART-eligible patients attending their first counselling session between 23 July 2012 and 30 April 2013 to assess losses to care prior to and post ART initiation.

Community-supported models of care for people on HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objectives: Further scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to those in need while supporting the growing patient cohort on ART requires continuous adaptation of healthcare delivery models. We describe several approaches to manage stable patients on ART developed by Médecins Sans Frontières together with Ministries of Health in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Using routine programme data, four approaches to simplify ART delivery for stable patients on ART were assessed from a patient and health system perspective: appointment spacing for clinical and drug refill visits in Malawi, peer educator-led ART refill groups in South Africa, community ART distribution points in DRC and patient-led community ART groups in Mozambique.