Study design and procedures for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation incomplete stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial to evaluate a differentiated point-of-care HIV diagnosis and management model for the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV in Malawi: The PAC-Man trial protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In Malawi and elsewhere in Africa, many children living with HIV are unaware of their status, often because of missed services for the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV (PVTH). Pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBFW) living with HIV frequently go without viral load (VL) monitoring and their infants miss key HIV testing milestones for early infant HIV diagnosis (EID). In Malawi, the current standard of care (SOC) involves mostly passive approaches to pediatric HIV diagnosis, relying on mothers presenting to health facilities with their infants. To reach PBFW living with HIV and their infants who miss critical HIV services and who are at higher risk for adverse HIV outcomes, including vertical transmission, we developed the "Point-of-care Active Case finding & Man

SUBMITTER: Herce ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12305895 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature