How Much Does It Cost to Improve Access to Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision among High-Risk, Low-Income Communities in Uganda?

<div><p>Background</p><p>The Ugandan Ministry of Health has endorsed voluntary medical male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy and has set ambitious goals (e.g., 4.2 million circumcisions by 2015). Innovative strategies to improve access for hard to reach, high risk, and poor populations are essential for reaching such goals. In 2009, the Makerere University Walter Reed Project began the first facility-based VMMC program in Uganda in a non-research setting. In addition, a mobile clinic began providing VMMC services to more remote, rural locations in 2011. The primary objective of this study was to estimate the average cost of performing VMMCs in the mobile clinic compared to those performed in health facilities (fixed sites). The difference between such costs is the cost of improving access to VMMC.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A micro-costing approach was used to estimate costs from the service provider’s perspective of a circumcision. Supply chain and higher-level program support costs are not included.</p><p>Results</p><p>The average cost (US$2012) of resources used per circumcision was$61 in the mobile program ($72 for more remote locations) compared to$34 at the fixed site. Costs for community mobilization, HIV testing, the initial medical exam, and staff for performing VMMC operations were similar for both programs. The cost of disposable surgical kits, the additional upfront cost for the mobile clinic, and additional costs for staff drive the differences in costs between the two programs. Cost estimates are relatively insensitive to patient flow over time.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The MUWRP VMMC program improves access for hard to reach, relatively poor, and high-risk rural populations for a cost of $27-$38 per VMMC. Costs to patients to access services are almost certainly less in the mobile program, by reducing out-of-pocket travel expenses and lost time and associated income, all of which have been shown to be barriers for accessing treatment.</p></div

Preliminary information for mobile program and fixed sites.

<p>Preliminary information for mobile program and fixed sites.</p

Estimated cost per VMMC for 2012 program conditions (USD).

<p>¹ The worksheets are found in the supplemental digital content (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0119484#pone.0119484.s002" target="_blank">S1 Costs</a> Mobile and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0119484#pone.0119484.s002" target="_blank">S1 Costs</a> Fixed).</p><p>Estimated cost per VMMC for 2012 program conditions (USD).</p

HIV virologic failure and its predictors among HIV-infected adults on antiretroviral therapy in the African Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION:The 2016 WHO consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs defines HIV virologic failure for low and middle income countries (LMIC) as plasma HIV-RNA ≥ 1000 copies/mL. We evaluated virologic failure and predictors in four African countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS:We included HIV-infected participants on a WHO recommended antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen and enrolled in the African Cohort Study between January 2013 and October 2017. Studied outcomes were virologic failure (plasma HIV-RNA ≥ 1000 copies/mL at the most recent visit), viraemia (plasma HIV-RNA ≥ 50 copies/mL at the most recent visit); and persistent viraemia (plasma HIV-RNA ≥ 50 copies/mL at two consecutive visits). Generalized linear models were used to estimate relative risks with their 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS:2054 participants were included in this analysis. Viraemia, persistent viraemia and virologic failure were observed in 396 (19.3%), 160 (7.8%) and 184 (9%) participants respectively. Of the participants with persistent viraemia, only 57.5% (92/160) had confirmed virologic failure. In the multivariate analysis, attending clinical care site other than the Uganda sitebeing on 2nd line ART (aRR 1.8, 95% CI 1·28-2·66); other ART combinations not first line and not second line (aRR 3.8, 95% CI 1.18-11.9), a history of fever in the past week (aRR 3.7, 95% CI 1.69-8.05), low CD4 count (aRR 6.9, 95% CI 4.7-10.2) and missing any day of ART (aRR 1·8, 95% CI 1·27-2.57) increased the risk of virologic failure. Being on 2nd line therapy, the site where one receives care and CD4 count < 500 predicted viraemia, persistent viraemia and virologic failure. CONCLUSION:In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that HIV-infected patients established on ART for more than six months in the African setting frequently experienced viraemia while continuing to be on ART. The findings also show that being on second line, low CD4 count, missing any day of ART and history of fever in the past week remain important predictors of virologic failure that should trigger intensified adherence counselling especially in the absence of reliable or readily available viral load monitoring. Finally, clinical care sites are different calling for further analyses to elucidate on the unique features of these sites