Service Use and Resilience among Adolescents Living with HIV in Blantyre, Malawi

Ethnographic understandings of sexual and reproductive health and HIV care for adolescents in Blantyre, Malawi

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care and support are provided to adolescents living with HIV, with the aim to build safer sex negotiation skills, sexual readiness and reproductive preparedness while reducing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. We consider how different settings might either constrain or facilitate access to resources and support. Ethnographic research was conducted in Malawi in teen club clinic sessions at an enhanced antiretroviral clinic from November 2018 to June 2019. Twenty-one individual and five group interviews were conducted with young people, caregivers, and healthcare workers, and were digitally recorded, transcribed, and translated into English for thematic analysis. Drawing on socio-ecological and resilience theories, we considered the different ways in which homes, schools, teen club clinics, and community settings all functioned as interactional, relational, and transformational spaces to allow young people to talk about and receive information on sexuality and health. Young people perceived that comprehensive SRH support enhanced their knowledge, sexual readiness, and reproductive preparedness. However, their desire to reproduce at an early age complicated their adoption of safer sex negotiation skills and SRH care. Engaging and talking about SRH and related issues varied according to physical and social space, suggesting the value of multiple locations for support and resources for young people with HIV.

Integrated Care as a Model for Interprofessional Disease Management and the Benefits for People Living with HIV/AIDS

INTRODUCTION

Today, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is effectively used as a lifelong therapy to treat people living with HIV (PLWH) to suppress viral replication. Moreover, PLWH need an adequate care strategy in an interprofessional, networked setting of health care professionals from different disciplines. HIV/AIDS poses challenges to both patients and health care professionals within the framework of care due to frequent visits to physicians, avoidable hospitalizations, comorbidities, complications, and the resulting polypharmacy. The concepts of integrated care (IC) represent sustainable approaches to solving the complex care situation of PLWH.

AIMS

This study aimed to describe the national and international models of integrated care and their benefits regarding PLWH as complex, chronically ill patients in the health care system.

METHODS

We conducted a narrative review of the current national and international innovative models and approaches to integrated care for people with HIV/AIDS. The literature search covered the period between March and November 2022 and was conducted in the databases Cinahl, Cochrane, and Pubmed. Quantitative and qualitative studies, meta-analyses, and reviews were included.

RESULTS

The main findings are the benefits of integrated care (IC) as an interconnected, guideline- and pathway-based multiprofessional, multidisciplinary, patient-centered treatment for PLWH with complex chronic HIV/AIDS. This includes the evidence-based continuity of care with decreased hospitalization, reductions in costly and burdensome duplicate testing, and the saving of overall health care costs. Furthermore, it includes motivation for adherence, the prevention of HIV transmission through unrestricted access to ART, the reduction and timely treatment of comorbidities, the reduction of multimorbidity and polypharmacy, palliative care, and the treatment of chronic pain. IC is initiated, implemented, and financed by health policy in the form of integrated health care, managed care, case and care management, primary care, and general practitioner-centered concepts for the care of PLWH. Integrated care was originally founded in the United States of America. The complexity of HIV/AIDS intensifies as the disease progresses.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrated care focuses on the holistic view of PLWH, considering medical, nursing, psychosocial, and psychiatric needs, as well as the various interactions among them. A comprehensive expansion of integrated care in primary health care settings will not only relieve the burden on hospitals but also significantly improve the patient situation and the outcome of treatment.