Missed Opportunities for Early HIV diagnosis: Critical Insights from Stories of Kenyan Women Living with HIV

Barriers and facilitators to HIV and syphilis rapid diagnostic testing in antenatal care settings in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Testing and treatment during pregnancy is a well-established and cost-effective prevention strategy, which relies largely on use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). Yet, in many low-income and-middle-income countries, the uptake of RDTs is suboptimal. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to identify the barriers and enablers to use of HIV and syphilis RDTs among pregnant women in low-income and middle-income countries.

METHODS

This review was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Eligible studies included peer-reviewed publications, which used qualitative methods to explore HIV and syphilis RDT in antenatal care clinics in low-income and middle-income countries. Studies focusing on perspectives of pregnant women, healthcare workers and/or stakeholders were included. We used an inductive approach informed by a modified socioecological model to synthesise the data.

RESULTS

62 manuscripts met the eligibility criteria. For pregnant women, initial acceptance of the RDT and continuation in antenatal care depends on the perception that engaging in testing will be a beneficial experience for their baby and themselves, often influenced by the provision of services that are gender-sensitive, confidential, respectful, flexible and considers their well-being into the future. Local sociocultural beliefs about pregnancy and diseases, awareness of diseases and gender roles in society also influenced RDT acceptability among pregnant women. For healthcare workers, the ability to provide high-quality RDT care required ongoing training, accurate and easy to use tests, support from supervisors and communities, sufficient resources and staffing to provide services, and reliable salary. At the stakeholder level, well-developed guidelines and health system infrastructures were imperative to the delivery of RDT in antenatal clinics.

CONCLUSION

Our findings highlight clear gaps to the provision of sustainable and culturally acceptable maternal HIV and/or syphilis screening using RDTs. In addition, greater attention needs to be paid to community stakeholders in promoting the uptake of RDT in antenatal clinics.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42018112190.

Caring through the Lens of African Feminisms: A Systematic Review

Abstract: This study presents a systematic review of the research into care practices by African authors with a feminist perspective. The research question has been developed through the strategy known as PICo: participants, phenomenon of interest and context. In our case, these are women, feminism and care practices, and sub-Saharan Africa respectively. After the process of filtering 102 selected articles, twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. They were organized into three broad categories using thematic analysis: HIV epidemic; crisis of social reproduction, and Afro-communitarian care. The papers examined explore cultural practices and traditional gender roles as risk or protective factors for contracting HIV; the overload of care work that African women face with regard to the crisis of social reproduction; and the Afro-communitarian proposals in relation to care.

The importance of content and choice in a technology-based intervention to increase HIV testing

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends routine HIV testing in emergency departments and other facilities, many patients are never offered testing, and those who are offered testing frequently decline. In response, our team developed and evaluated a series of differently configured technology-based interventions to explore how we can most effectively increase HIV testing among reluctant patients. The current study examines how different videos (onscreen physician vs. onscreen community member), and different intervention configurations (enabling some participants to select a video while others are assigned to watch a video or to view bullet-point text), could potentially increase self-efficacy to test for HIV among patients who had never tested. Analyses of data from 285 emergency department patients in New York City who declined HIV testing offered by hospital staff indicated that participants reported highly significant differences in self-efficacy depending on their history of previous testing, whether they were enabled to select a video or were assigned a video, and which video they watched. Participants who reported no previous testing reported significantly lower pre-test self-efficacy compared to those who had tested at least once before. Among those who had not previously tested, the greatest pre-post increases in self-efficacy were reported by participants who were randomly enabled to select an intervention video and chose to watch video depicting a physician. Our findings highlight the importance, not only of intervention content, but how that content is delivered to specific participants. These findings may inform more effective technology-based behavioral health interventions.

Sustaining peer support groups: Insights from women living with HIV in rural Kenya

OBJECTIVE

As HIV transitions to a chronic disease, measures that foster continued health are critical. Peer support groups can help in reducing stigma and ensuring wellbeing for those living with HIV. The purpose of our study was to gain an understanding of the ways in which women living with HIV in rural areas sustain peer support groups.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE

For this descriptive qualitative study, 20 women living with HIV participated in the study. Women were randomly divided into two peer support groups of ten women each; the groups met over a 12-month period. monthly for the first two months and then every three months for the remainder of the year.

RESULTS

Discussion themes indicated women found ways to sustain the groups by using them as a platform for engaging in income generation; starting and participating in table banking; addressing food security; and finding financial and moral support. Problem-solving challenges of sustaining peer support groups was also a major theme.

CONCLUSION

As people live longer with HIV, long-term peer support will be needed to maintain wellbeing. Community-based peer support groups can be sustained by engaging women in common income-generation activities.

"HIV Changed My Life Forever": An Illustrative Case of a Sub-Saharan African Migrant Woman Living with HIV in Belgium

Living with HIV and AIDS changes everything for people diagnosed with HIV and it can be the most difficult experience in life. Like most people who have chronic diseases, these individuals have to deal with living a normal and quality life. Globally, more women (51%) than men are HIV positive. The main aim of this paper was to describe a sub-Saharan African migrant woman’s lived experience, and also to use the individual’s story to raise questions about the larger context after a HIV diagnosis. A qualitative study consisting of a personal story of a HIV-infected sub-Saharan African living in Belgium was conducted. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The main themes that emerged from the data included relational risks, personal transformation and the search for normality, anxiety, depression, fear of stigma, societal gender norms, and support. The participant reported that marriage was no guarantee of staying HIV-free, especially in a male-dominant culture. This case further illustrates that married and unmarried African women are often at high risk of HIV and also informs us how HIV could spread, not only because of cultural practices but also because of individual behaviour and responses to everyday life situations. The participant also emphasized that she is faced with physical and mental health problems that are typical of people living with HIV. The vulnerability of sub-Saharan African women to HIV infection and their precarious health-related environments wherever they happen to be is further elucidated by this case.

Falling through the cracks? Missed opportunities for earlier HIV diagnosis in a New York City Hospital

Summary Newly diagnosed HIV-positive patients have frequent health care encounters prior to diagnosis representing missed opportunities for diagnosis. This study determines the proportion of patients with new HIV diagnoses with encounters in the 3 years prior to diagnosis. We describe the characteristics of newly diagnosed patients and of "late testers" (CD4 <200 cells/mm(3) at the time of diagnosis). We identified all newly diagnosed with HIV in emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient settings between May 1, 2006, and December 31, 2009. Data abstractors searched hospital records to identify all emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient visits for the 3 years prior to diagnosis. In all, 23,271 HIV tests were performed and 253 persons were newly diagnosed (1.1%); 152 new positives (60.1%) made at least one prior visit. Of patients with CD4 counts available, 104/175 (59.4%) had CD4 <200 cells/mm(3). Patients with at least one prior visit had a median of three. There was no difference in numbers of visits between late testers and non-late testers, although late testers were more likely to have ED visits. Most newly diagnosed HIV-positive patients had multiple encounters prior to diagnosis. Many of these patients presented with CD4 counts below 200 cells/mm(3), indicating true missed opportunities for earlier diagnosis.