HIV Care Cascade and Linkage to Antiretroviral Therapy Among Hospitalized Adults in Lusaka, Zambia
HIV Care Cascade and Linkage to Antiretroviral Therapy Among Hospitalized Adults in Lusaka, Zambia
The population of inpatients is large in Zambia; however, because of poor linkages between hospitals and community HIV care, there are few data to analyze their engagement in HIV care before and after hospitalization. The goal of the study is to learn more about Zambian adults who are HIV-infected and get hospitalized. The purpose of this study is to gather formative, preliminary data, to be used in future grant applications to improve linkage and engagement in HIV care in Zambia.
The main objective of this study is to generate preliminary data on the outcomes of Zambian HIV-infected individuals after discharge from University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Internal Medicine wards which can inform development of a linkage intervention. Our central hypothesis is that in Sub-Saharan African settings like Zambia hospitalizations among HIV-infected individuals are driven by suboptimal linkage and initiation of ART following HIV diagnosis. Specific Aims: (a) Characterize the distribution of hospitalized 300 HIV-infected adults across the HIV care continuum. (b) Identify structural, psychosocial, clinic, and medical factors that predict suboptimal linkage to care and ART initiation after 90 days of hospital discharge among HIV-infected Zambians.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: