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. 2021 Jun 1;35(7):1127-1134.
doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000002858.

Scale-up of antiretroviral treatment access among people living with HIV in Rivers State, Nigeria, 2019--2020

Andrew T Boyd  1 , Obinna Ogbanufe  2 , Chibuzor Onyenuobi  2 , Ifunanya Mgbakor  2 , Pamela Bachanas  1 , Olayemi Olupitan  3 , Clifford Umeh  3 , Adeoye Adegboye  3 , Golden Owhonda  4 , Solomon Odafe  2 , Ibrahim Jahun  2 , Patrick Dakum  3 , Charles Mensah  3 , Jerry Gwamna  2 , Dennis Onotu  2 , Emilio Dirlikov  1 , Michelle Williams-Sherlock  1 , Chukwuemeka Okolo  3 , Tarfa Verinumbe  3 , Stanley Idakwo  3 , Makshwar U Kumtap  3 , Tedd Ellerbrock  1 , Mahesh Swaminathan  2
Affiliations

Scale-up of antiretroviral treatment access among people living with HIV in Rivers State, Nigeria, 2019--2020

Andrew T Boyd et al. AIDS. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the impact of the programme intervention of the Rivers State Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Surge, a collaboration between the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the State Ministry of Health, to increase HIV case-finding and ART access in Rivers State, the state with the largest ART gap among people living with HIV (PWH) in Nigeria.

Design: During April 2019-September 2020, the intervention included six specific strategies: using local government area-level ART gap analysis to guide case-finding; expanding targeted community testing; tailoring comprehensive key population HIV services; engaging HIV treatment programme stakeholders; synchronizing team efforts; and using near real-time data for programme action.

Methods: Weekly reported facility and community data on tests conducted, PWH diagnosed, and PWH initiated on ART were aggregated. The total number of PWH maintained on ART was reported quarterly.

Results: During May 2019-September 2020, the weekly number of newly diagnosed PWH initiated on ART supported by PEPFAR in Rivers State increased from 82 to 1723. During October 2019-September 2020, the monthly number of people screened for HIV testing eligibility in the community increased from 44 000 to 360 000. During April 2019-September 2020, the total number of PWH on ART supported by PEPFAR statewide increased by 3.8 times, from 26 041 to 99 733.

Conclusion: The strategies applied by HIV program stakeholders contributed to scale-up of PWH identification and ART linkage within the Rivers State ART Surge. Continued gains through time indicate the importance of the application of a quality improvement approach to maintain programme flexibility and effectiveness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. Newly diagnosed people living with HIV initiated on antiretroviral treatment in the PEPFAR program by week, Rivers State, Nigeria, May 2019—September 2020a.
aTo capture data through the end of September 2020, data for the week ending in 3 October 2020 are included.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Summary of targeted community HIV screening, testing, diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment initiation by month, Rivers State, Nigeria, October 2019—September 2020.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Number of people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment in the PEPFAR programme at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year, Rivers State, Nigeria, fiscal years 2017–2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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