Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 19;12(9):e060778.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060778.

Service delivery models for enhancing linkage to and retention in HIV care services for adolescent girls and young women and adolescent boys and young men: a protocol for an overview of systematic reviews

Kim Jonas  1   2 , Babalwa Zani  3 , Trisha Ramraj  4   5 , Witness Chirinda  6 , Ngcwalisa Jama  6 , Wisdom Basera  6 , Tracy McClinton Appollis  7 , Desiree Pass  6 , Darshini Govindasamy  7 , Ferdinand C Mukumbang  8 , Catherine Mathews  7   2 , Edward Nicol  6   9
Affiliations

Service delivery models for enhancing linkage to and retention in HIV care services for adolescent girls and young women and adolescent boys and young men: a protocol for an overview of systematic reviews

Kim Jonas et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: Recent advances in the HIV care continuum have shown that an individual diagnosed with HIV should be initiated on antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible regardless of the CD4 count levels and retained in HIV care services. Studies have reported large losses in the HIV continuum of care, before and after the era of universal test and treat. Several systematic reviews have reported on the strategies for improving linkage to and retention in HIV treatment and care. The purpose of this overview of systematic reviews is to identify HIV care interventions or service delivery models (SDMs) and synthesise evidence on the effects of these to link adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and adolescent boys and young men (ABYM) to care and retain them in care. We also aim to highlight gaps in the evidence on interventions and SDMs to improve linkage and retention in HIV care of AGYW and ABYM.

Methods and analysis: An electronic search of four online databases: PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Web of Science will be performed to identify systematic reviews on the effects of linkage to and retention in HIV care interventions or SDMs for AGYW aged 15-24 years and ABYM aged 15-35 years. Our findings on the effects of interventions and SDMs will be interpreted considering the intervention and or SDMs' effectiveness by the time period, setting and population of interest. Two or more authors will independently screen articles for inclusion using a priori criteria.

Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval is not required for this study as only published secondary data will be used. Our findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication, conference abstracts and through presentations to stakeholders and other community fora. The findings from this overview of systematic reviews will inform mixed-methods operations research on HIV intervention programming and delivery of HIV care services for AGYW and ABYM in South Africa.

Prospero registration number: CRD42020177933.

Keywords: HIV & AIDS; PRIMARY CARE; PUBLIC HEALTH; Public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. UNAIDS . Unaids data 2021: UNAIDS fact sheet, 2022. Available: https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet [Accessed 18 Aug 2022].
    1. World Health Organization . Policy brief: consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection: what’s new, 2015. Available: 9789241549684_eng.pdf;jsessionid=1C519A1707A82BB387BE621BCE6B12C0(who.int)
    1. Anglemyer A, Rutherford GW, Easterbrook PJ, et al. . Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected adults and adolescents: a systematic review. AIDS 2014;28 Suppl 2:S105–18. 10.1097/QAD.0000000000000232 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mateo-Urdiales A, Johnson S, Smith R, et al. . Rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019;6:Cd012962. 10.1002/14651858.CD012962.pub2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cohen MS, Chen YQ, McCauley M, et al. . Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. N Engl J Med 2011;365:493–505. 10.1056/NEJMoa1105243 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types