1. Short-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on HIV Care Utilization, Service Delivery, and Continuity of HIV Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in Haiti
- Author
-
Jean Solon Valles, Elisma Marinho, Scott Barnhart, Jean Gabriel Balan, Kemar Celestin, Michelle Virgin, Christina White, Adrien Allorant, Georges Perrin, Kesner François, Jan Flowers, Jean Guy Honoré, Nicolas De Kerorguen, Nancy Puttkammer, and Jean Baptiste Koama
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Social Psychology ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Anti-HIV Agents ,Service delivery framework ,Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ,COVID-19 pandemic ,HIV Infections ,medicine.disease_cause ,Care utilization ,Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) ,Pandemic ,Antiretroviral treatment ,medicine ,Humans ,Pandemics ,Original Paper ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Public health ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,medicine.disease ,Service disruption ,Haiti ,Infectious Diseases ,HIV/AIDS ,business ,Demography - Abstract
Introduction Our study describes changes in HIV care service delivery and continuity of HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLHIV) during the 8 weeks before and after diagnosis of the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Haiti on March 19, 2020. Methods Using data from 96 out of 167 health facilities offering ART services, we compared four ART program indicators: (1) count of HIV visits; (2) proportion of ART dispenses in community-based settings (DAC); (3) proportion of multi-month dispensing of ART medications > 6 months (> 6 m MMD); and (4) proportion of timely ART refills. We used uncontrolled interrupted time series (ITS) models to estimate slope and level changes in each indicator with the arrival of COVID-19. Results and Discussion From week 1 to week 16, the average number of HIV visits fell from 121.5 to 92.5 visits, the proportion of DAC rose from 22.7% to 36.7%, the proportion of > 6 m MMD rose from 29.4% to 48.4%, and the proportion of timely ART refills fell from 51.9% to 43.8%. The ITS models estimated abrupt increases of 36% in > 6 m MMD (p
- Published
- 2021