Poor rates of linkage to HIV care and uptake of treatment after home-based HIV testing among newly diagnosed 15-to-49 year-old men and women in a high HIV prevalence setting in South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Early antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation is essential, but linkage to care following community-based services is often poor, and inadequately understood. This study examined factors influencing linkage to care following home-based HIV-testing services (HBHTS) in a hyper-endemic setting in South Africa. HBHTS was offered to participants (N = 10,236) enrolled in the second HIV Incidence Provincial Surveillance System survey (2015-2016), KwaZulu-Natal. Follow-up telephone surveys with 196 of the 313 individuals diagnosed HIV-positive through HBHTS were used to measure linkage to care (i.e., a clinic visit within 12 weeks) and ART-initiation. Among newly diagnosed individuals (N = 183), 55% linked to care, and 21% of those who were ART-eligible started treatment within 12 we

SUBMITTER: Maughan-Brown B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7477751 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature