Indicator-condition-guided HIV testing in rural DRC

期刊论文
发表日期：

2024年3月21日

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Pascal Migaud,
Julia Naidenow,
Leyli Ghaeni,
Kai Hosmann,
Jeannine Kaghoma,
Justin Kowomba,
Valery Lubura,
Didier Mabete,
Sophie Mvokolo,
Hartmut Stocker,
Ingo Hartlapp

摘要

Background

HIV testing services are a key component of the 95-95-95-0 goals. In many parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo the availability of test kits is limited for multiple reasons. Targeted testing of patients with HIV indicator conditions is therefore the only feasible option in these settings.

Methods

We introduced an indicator condition-guided HIV testing project in the Emergency Room of the Hôpital Géneral de Référence de Kikwit, DRC.

Results

We screened 1274 patients for indicator condition. In 94 (7.4%) patients, the treating physician diagnosed at least one HIV indicator. 34 (36.2%) tested HIV-positive (2.7% of screened patients). 52% of the newly diagnosed patients were lost to follow-up two months after the first diagnosis of HIV.

Conclusion

In a resource-limited setting with insufficient availability of HIV-Tests, indicator-triggered testing is a useful tool to find a high number of HIV-positive patients. Loss to follow-up is one of the major challenges.