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Early warning indicators of HIV drug resistance in the southern highlands region of Tanzania: Lessons from a cross-sectional surveillance study.

Authors :
Samoel A Khamadi
Caroline Mavere
Emmanuel Bahemana
Anange Lwilla
Mucho Mizinduko
Seth Bwigane
Adela Peter
Joy Makando
Benjamin Peter
Patricia Agaba
Neha Shah
Boniphase Julu
Kavitha Ganesan
Peter Coakley
Elizabeth H Lee
Source :
PLOS Global Public Health, Vol 3, Iss 3, p e0000929 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2023.

Abstract

The World Health Organization early warning indicators (EWIs) permit surveillance of factors associated with the emergence of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR). We examined cross- and within-region performance on HIVDR EWIs for selected HIV care and treatment clinics (CTCs) in five regions of southern Tanzania. We retrospectively abstracted EWI data from 50 CTCs for the January to December 2013 period. EWIs included the following: on time ART pick-up, retention on ART, ARV stockouts, and pharmacy prescribing and dispensing practices. Data for pediatric and adult people living with HIV were abstracted from source files, and frequencies and proportions were calculated for each EWI overall, as well as stratified by region, facility, and age group. Across and within all regions, on average, on-time pick-up of pills (63.0%), retention on ART (76.0%), and pharmacy stockouts (69.0%) were consistently poor for the pediatric population. Similarly, on-time pill pick up (66.0%), retention on ART (72.0%) and pharmacy stockouts (53.0%) for adults were also poor. By contrast, performance on pharmacy prescribing and dispensing practices were as desired for both pediatric and adult populations with few facility-level exceptions. In this study, regions and facilities in the southern highlands of Tanzania reported widespread presence of HIVDR risk factors, including sub-optimal timeliness of pill pickup, retention on ART, and drug stockouts. There is an urgent need to implement the WHO EWIs monitoring to minimize the emergence of preventable HIV drug resistance and to maintain the effectiveness of first and second-line ART regimens. This is particularly critical in the context of new ART drug roll-out such as dolutegravir during the COVID-19 pandemic when resultant HIV service disruptions require careful monitoring, and for virologic suppression as countries move closer to epidemic control.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
27673375
Volume :
3
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
PLOS Global Public Health
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.7abfcfb3e0e4ceaa761fce95f3e6368
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000929