Observational Cohort of HIV Infected Adults and Children in the PHPT Network Hospitals in Thailand

Observational Cohort of HIV Infected Adults and Children in the PHPT Network Hospitals in Thailand

Since 2004, the Thai Ministry of Public Health has massively scaled up antiretroviral treatment programs to provide therapy to more than 80,000 patients with partial support of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).

As access to HIV care continues to expand under the universal health coverage system, it is important to document and analyze the efficacy, tolerance, toxicity and acceptability of antiretroviral therapy within pilot treatment programs, to provide evidence based feedback and recommendations to the national program and policy makers.

As Thailand is rapidly expanding access to antiretroviral treatments under the universal health coverage system, it is crucial to document and learn from pilot antiretroviral treatment programs, in particular the medical outcomes and logistical, and organizational issues faced by hospital teams and patients in order to adapt the ARV delivery and monitoring system to various local settings.

Specific objectives

1. Analyze data collected in patients participating in the PHPT antiretroviral treatment program, in accordance to national and international guidelines, with no experimental interventions.
2. To determine factors associated with treatment outcome including immune status, virologic factors and antiretroviral drugs levels
3. To study the operational aspects of integrating comprehensive HIV care into the existing care system with regards to new activities generated at the hospital level (counseling, referral systems, biological monitoring), the impact on other health activities, mobilization of human and financial resources, affordability and sustainability.

The population of the study consists of approximately 2,000 consenting HIV-infected patients, including one-third of children, receiving HIV care as part of the GF-ATM or OXFAM Access to Antiretroviral programs, presenting at any of the PHPT network hospitals.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults and children (children are defined as less than 18 years old) patients are eligible for the inclusion in the cohort if they meet all the following inclusion criteria:

  • Participation in the GFATM or Oxfam Access to Antiretroviral Programs
  • For adults, consent to have their clinical or biological data used for this research study, and willingness to be followed at one of the PHPT network hospitals. For children, caregiver's consent to participate, willingness to bring the child to the scheduled visits for the duration of the treatment, and to have the child's clinical or biological data used for this research study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• This is an observational study of an access to treatment program, therefore all patients who require treatment and are willing to be followed by the medical team and have their data collected can be enrolled in the study. The only exclusion criteria would be refusal to participate and the discontinuation criteria would be withdrawal of consent.