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Background: The HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has a disproportionate gender impact, with women bearing the brunt of the epidemic. South Africa carries the largest share of the global HIV burden, with similar trends seen for women due to unequal socio-cultural and economic status. Objectives: This study aims to understand 30–49 year-old women's barriers and facilitators to accessing HIV services in order to maximize health in resource limited settings and reach women missing from HIV care. Design: Employing a convenience sampling strategy, we recruited, informed, and consented participants at clinics and public areas. Interviews were conducted in respondent's preferred languages, transcribed verbatim, translated into English if needed, and thematically analyzed using grounded theory. Methods: We conducted 81 interviews with women aged 30–49 either missing from care (n = 21), having unknown HIV status (n = 30) or linked to care (n = 30) within two sites: City of Johannesburg district, Gauteng Province and Mopani district, Limpopo Province. Results: Participants missing from care reported negative staff attitudes, queues, family rejection, medication side effects, and painful blood tests as key deterrents. Participants with an unknown status were deterred by fear of being diagnosed as HIV positive and family rejection, which was similar to women missing from care who often dropped out from care due to actual family rejection. Participants linked to care reported that long queues and staff shortages were challenges but stayed in care due to a will to live for themselves and their children, in addition to counselling and feeling emotionally supported. Interestingly, participants missing from care often accessed medication from friends but, similarly to those with unknown status, noted that they would access care if attended to by supportive nurses and by having non-clinical HIV services. Conclusions: The accounts of women in this research highlight significant improvements needed to address inequities in the fight against HIV in South Africa. Additionally, the healthcare service access preferences of women aged 30–49 need to be further explored quantitatively in order to design policy relevant interventions. Plain language summary: Understanding HIV service preferences of South African women 30–49 years old missing from or linked to care: An exploratory study of Gauteng and Limpopo provinces The HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa harms women more than men. South Africa carries the largest share of the global HIV burden, with similar trends seen for women. This study aims to understand 30–49 year-old women's ability to access HIV services in order to reach women missing from HIV care. We conducted 81 interviews with women aged 30–49 either missing from care (n = 21), having unknown status (n = 30) or linked to care (n = 30) within two sites: City of Johannesburg district, Gauteng Province and Mopani district, Limpopo Province. We recruited, informed, and consented participants at clinics and public areas. Interviews were conducted in respondent's preferred languages, transcribed, and translated into English for analysis. Participants missing from care reported negative staff attitudes, queues, family rejection, medication side effects and painful blood tests as key deterrents. Participants with an unknown status were deterred by fear of being diagnosed as HIV positive and family rejection, which was similar to women missing from care who often dropped out from care due to family rejection. Participants linked to care reported that long queues and staff shortages were challenges but stayed in care due to a will to live for themselves and their children, in addition to counselling and feeling emotionally supported. Interestingly, participants missing from care often accessed medication from friends but, similarly to those with unknown status, noted that they would access care if attended to by supportive nurses and by having non-clinical HIV services. The healthcare service access preferences of women aged 30–49 needs to be further explored in order to improve interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last decade, South Africa has made substantial progress to control the dual HIV and TB epidemics. However, disruptions in TB and HIV treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to reverse this. This study aimed to identify adaptations in HIV and TB service delivery models in response to COVID-19 and government restrictions. This information informed the development of an online survey, which was utilized as part of a consultation exercise to further capture adaptations made to HIV/TB service delivery within the South African context. The literature review involved screening 380 titles and abstracts, identifying 30 HIV and TB studies across 19 countries, and categorizing 90 individual interventions into ten thematic areas. Common themes included interventions addressing screening, testing, diagnosis, medication collection and delivery support, and virtual models. Digital health interventions and adaptations to medication collection/delivery were reported in 38% of studies. Analysis of survey responses from 33 stakeholders in South Africa revealed that 47% of interventions targeted HIV, 11% TB, and 23% HIV/TB integrated service delivery. Most interventions (81%) were integrated into the national HIV or TB program, with implementation occurring at various levels: 39% at facility level, 35% at sub-district or district level, and 18% at provincial level. Programmatic data was available for 86% of interventions, with 50% being funded. This study demonstrated that services can be delivered in locations other than in health facilities (e.g., community-based or home-based) and that integrated services can also free up additional resources. Although studies varied, COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of differentiated service delivery (DSD) models for TB care, including multi-month dispensing (MMD) for TB preventative therapy (TPT) and TB treatment, home-based or mobile outreach screening and testing, and community pickup points (PuP) for TB medications. These initiatives had previously lagged behind HIV-focused DSD models, and it is crucial to sustain these services beyond the pandemic. To achieve universal health coverage, it will also be important to capitalize on these experiences and learn from HIV-focused DSD models so programs can deliver integrated person-centered chronic care services for TB, HIV, and non-communicable diseases., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Galvin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)