How antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes in Africa can maintain treatment for people living with HIV (PLHIV) during COVID-19 pandemic

摘要

The fear and anxiety associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) coupled with restrictive measures to stop the spread of the pandemic have caused serious disruptions in the delivery of essential health services including antiretroviral therapy to persons living with HIV/AIDS. As a result, more people are likely to die of HIV than COVID-19 if ART delivery is interrupted as patients and even healthcare workers prefer to stay at home than go to health facilities. To ensure retention on ART while respecting the lockdown measures, we propose a series of strategies that have been used to bring treatment closer to the homes of PLHIV in similar humanitarian emergencies. They include:?Multi-Month Prescriptions (MMP) and Multi-Month Dispensing (MMD),?Appointment spacing for clinical visits to at least 3 months and up to 6 months,?Community ART distribution points,?Community ART groups (CAGs),?Home delivery and dispensation of medicines by community health workers and virtual or digital?support for PLHIV who need clinical care. ART programs are advised to choose a strategy or a combination of those strategies suitable for their context as no one strategy will work for all programs.