Differentiated models of care for postpartum women on antiretroviral therapy in Cape Town, South Africa: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The numbers of women initiating lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy and postpartum is increasing rapidly, presenting a burden on health systems and an urgent need for scalable models of care for this population. In a pilot project, we referred postpartum women who initiated ART during pregnancy to a community-based model of differentiated ART services.

Methods

Eligible women (on ART for at least 3 months with viral load (VL)<1000 copies/mL) were offered a choice of two ART models of care: (i) referral to an existing system of community-based 'adherence clubs', operated by lay counsellors with medication collection every 2-4 months; or (ii) referral to local primary healthcare clinics (PHC) with services provided by clinicians and medication coll

SUBMITTER: Myer L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5577773 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature