A systematic review of emergency department based HIV testing and linkage to care initiatives in low resource settings.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Only 45% of people currently living with HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa are aware of their HIV status. Unmet testing needs may be addressed by utilizing the Emergency Department (ED) as an innovative testing venue in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The purpose of this review is to examine the burden of HIV infection described in EDs in LMICs, with a focus on summarizing the implementation of various ED-based HIV testing strategies.

Methodology and results

We performed a systematic review of Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library on June 12, 2016. A three-concept search was employed with emergency medicine (e.g., Emergency department, emergency medical services), HIV/AIDS (e.g., human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immunod

SUBMITTER: Hansoti B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5667894 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature