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Background: Despite being a priority population for COVID-19 vaccination, limited data are available regarding acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines among people living with HIV (PLWH) in Sub-Saharan Africa. We described COVID-19 vaccine acceptability and factors associated with vaccine acceptability among PLWH in Uganda. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among PLWH, aged ≥18 years, enrolled participants who were seeking HIV care from six purposely selected accredited ART clinics in Kampala. We obtained data on vaccine acceptability defined as willingness to accept any of the available COVID-19 vaccines using interviewer-administered questionnaires. In addition, we assessed vaccination status, complacency regarding COVID-19 disease, vaccine confidence, and vaccine convenience. Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptability were evaluated using modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Results: We enrolled 767 participants of whom 485 (63%) were women. The median age was 33 years [interquartile range (IQR) 28–40] for women and 40 years [IQR], (34–47) for men. Of the respondents 534 (69.6%,95% confidence interval [CI]: 66.3%-72.8%) reported receiving at least one vaccine dose, with women significantly more likely than men to have been vaccinated (73% vs. 63%; p = 0.003). Among the unvaccinated 169 (72.7%, 95% CI: 66.6%-78.0%) were willing to accept vaccination, had greater vaccine confidence (85.9% had strong belief that the vaccines were effective; 81.9% that they were beneficial and 71% safe for PLWH; 90.5% had trust in health care professionals or 77.4% top government officials), and believed that it would be easy to obtain a vaccine if one decided to be vaccinated (83.6%). Vaccine acceptability was positively associated with greater vaccine confidence (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 1.44; 95% CI: 1.08–1.90), and positive perception that it would be easy to obtain a vaccine (aPR 1.57; 95% CI: 1.26–1.96). Conclusion: vaccine acceptance was high among this cohort of PLWH, and was positively associated with greater vaccine confidence, and perceived easiness (convince) to obtained the vaccine. Building vaccine confidence and making vaccines easily accessible should be a priority for vaccination programs targeting PLWH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Discontinuation of tuberculosis treatment (DTT) among children in sub-Saharan Africa is a major obstacle to effective tuberculosis (TB) control and has the potential to worsen the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB and death. DTT in children is understudied in Uganda. We examined the level and factors associated with DTT among children at four large health facilities in Kampala Capital City Authority and documented the reasons for DTT from treatment supporters and healthcare provider perspectives.Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of records for children < 15 years diagnosed and treated for TB between January 2018 and December 2019. We held focus group discussions with treatment supporters and key informant interviews with healthcare providers. We defined DTT as the stoppage of TB treatment for 30 or more consecutive days. We used a stepwise generalized linear model to assess factors independently associated with DTT and content analysis for the qualitative data reported using sub-themes.Results: Of 312 participants enrolled, 35 (11.2%) had discontinued TB treatment. The reasons for DTT included lack of privacy at healthcare facilities for children with TB and their treatment supporters, the disappearance of TB symptoms following treatment initiation, poor implementation of the community-based directly observed therapy short-course (CB-DOTS) strategy, insufficient funding to the TB program, and frequent stock-outs of TB drugs. DTT was more likely during the continuation phase of TB treatment compared to the intensive phase (Adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 5.22; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.76-17.52) and when the treatment supporter was employed compared to when the treatment supporter was unemployed (aOR, 3.60; 95% CI, 1.34-11.38).Conclusion: Many children with TB discontinue TB treatment and this might exacerbate TB morbidity and mortality. To mitigate DTT, healthcare providers should ensure children with TB and their treatment supporters are accorded privacy during service provision and provide more information about TB symptom resolution and treatment duration versus the need to complete treatment. The district and national TB control programs should address gaps in funding to TB care, the supply of TB drugs, and the implementation of the CB-DOTS strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]