Identifying care gaps along the HIV treatment failure cascade: A multistate analysis of viral load monitoring, re-suppression, and regimen switches in Zambia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Timely response to treatment failure is critical for improved outcomes and viral re-suppression among people living with HIV, but care gaps along the treatment failure cascade can occur due to delays by both clients (e.g., retention and adherence) and health systems (e.g., fidelity to viral load [VL] monitoring guidelines). We used multistate analysis to identify drivers of implementation gaps in the treatment failure cascade, including time to HIV VL monitoring, re-suppression, and regimen switches, in Zambia.

Methods and findings

We used national electronic HIV health records to identify adults on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for more than 6 months who experienced treatment failure (VL ≥ 1,000 copies/ml) at 24 clinics in Lusaka, Zambia, between August 2019 and N

SUBMITTER: Sikombe K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12422583 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature