Discordance between clinical and immunological ART eligibility criteria for children in Malawi

Background: Since May 2014, all HIV positive children aged less than five years in Malawi are eligible for ART. For children older than five years they are eligible if they are in WHO stage III/IV, if stage I/II, if their CD4 750. Conclusion: Most children are correctly started on treatment using recent guidelines. 41% more children <5 years will be started on ART

Challenges with targeted viral load testing for medical inpatients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi

BackgroundApproximately 75% of medical inpatients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, Malawi are HIV seropositive, and a third of these patients are on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Malawi guidelines recommend targeted viral load (VL) testing for patients on ART for at least one year who report excellent adherence and present with a WHO clinical stage 3 or 4 HIV disease. A switch to secondlineART is only indicated if a VL result &gt;5000 copies/mL confirms treatment failure.MethodsDuring an audit of targeted VL testing at QECH, all adult medical admissions were screened to identify those in need of VL testing. Daily review of inpatient notes ascertained whether VL testing was ordered and carried out. At 8 weeks  post-discharge the laboratory database was checked for results and was  triangulated with the HIV outpatient database to ascertain whether patients had attended clinic, received results, and if these results had been acted upon.ResultsOut of 81 patients recruited, 63 (77%) had a VL requested. At 8 weeks  post-discharge, nine patients (14%) had VL results available. The median (IQR) waiting time for those with results was 29 days (20-47). Five patients had a VL &gt;5000 copies/mL. Of these patients, three attended clinic and one was switched to second-line ART. Of the remaining 55 patients awaiting results, the median (IQR) waiting time at the 8-week follow-up point was 72 days (67-80). At 8 weeks post-discharge, 8 patients (33%) had died.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate challenges with targeted VL testing at QECH. Only two-thirds of patients with clinical ART failure were identified as eligible for targeted VL testing, and of these less than one-sixth had VL results available after 8 weeks. Interventions such as point-of-care targeted VL testing could result in faster turnaround times. In the interim, we suggest further evaluation of the possibilityof switching patients with clinical ART failure and a low CD4 count to second-line ART while awaiting VL results

Near-universal same-day linkage to ART care among newly diagnosed adults living with HIV: A cross-sectional study from primary health facilities, in urban Malawi.

Malawi HIV treatment guidelines recommend same-day antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation. Overall 97.9% of Malawians living with HIV (PLHIV) are on ART, same-day ART initiation prevalence and factors that facilitate it have not been fully described. We assessed same-day ART initiation and described individual, health system and health facility infrastructural factors at health facilities supported by expert clients (EC). ECs are lay PLHIV who support other PLHIV. The study was conducted in urban and semi-urban primary health facilities, in Blantyre, Malawi. It was a cross-sectional, descriptive survey of PLHIV and health facility leaders. Eligibility criteria included age ≥ 18 years, new diagnosis of HIV, received counselling from ECs, and offered same-day ART. The study was conducted from December 2018 to June 2021, and 321 study participants enrolled. Mean age (standard deviation) was 33 years (10) with 59% females. In total, 315 (98.1%) initiated same-day ART. Four participants did not because of mental unpreparedness, one wanted to try herbal medicine and one was concerned about stigma related to taking ART. Participants reported health facility accessibility (99%, 318/321), privacy (91%, 292/321) and quality of counselling by EC as excellent (40%, 128/321). Same-day ART was nearly universal. Participants' satisfaction with health services delivery, the presence of EC, and infrastructural characteristics such as adequate privacy were cited as reasons favoring same-day linkage to ART. The most cited reason for not starting same-day ART was mental unpreparedness