BACKGROUND Resource-limited countries increasingly depend on quality indicators to improve outcomes within HIV treatment programs, but indicators of program performance suitable for use at the local program level remain underdeveloped. METHODS Using the existing literature as a guide, we applied standard quality improvement (QI) concepts to the continuum of HIV care from HIV diagnosis, to enr...

BACKGROUND Vertically oriented global health initiatives (GHIs) addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), have successfully contributed to reducing HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality. However, there is still debate about whether these disease-specific programs have improved or harmed health systems overall, especially with respect...

Although much has been learned about the implementation of HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in resource-limited settings, the broader impact of the rapid scale-up of HIV programs on fragile health systems has only recently been explored. A high-level working group identified priority research questions regarding the impact of HIV scale-up on key elements of health systems: service d...

We sought to identify and understand the health care needs of young people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly in terms of their psychosocial well-being. We conducted a qualitative analysis of HIV-positive young people and their caregivers, focusing on the implications of an HIV diagnosis for health care needs. Stigma was a recurrent issue that arose in the interviews conducted with the responde...

introduction the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the immune system, destroying or impairing their function. as the infection progresses, the immune system becomes weaker, and the person becomes more susceptible to infections. the most advanced stage of hiv infection is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids). the present study aimed to evaluate the eff...

Realizing the full individual and population-wide benefits of antiretroviral therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection requires an efficient mechanism of HIV-related health service delivery. We developed a system dynamics model of the continuum of HIV care in Vancouver, Canada, which reflects key activities and decisions in the delivery of antiretroviral therapy, including HIV te...

BACKGROUND Although there is widespread interest in understanding how models of care for delivering antiretroviral therapy (ART) may influence patient outcomes, family-focused approaches have received little attention. In particular, there have been few investigations of whether the co-enrollment of HIV-infected family members may improve adult ART outcomes over time. METHODS We examined the ...

BACKGROUND More than 1.2 million people in the United States are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and 3.2 million are living with hepatitis C virus (HCV). An estimated 25 % of persons living with HIV also have HCV. It is therefore of great public health importance to ensure the prompt diagnosis of both HIV and HCV in populations that have the highest prevalence of both infections...

Retention in care is a major challenge for HIV treatment programs, including in rural and in resource-limited settings. To help reduce loss to follow-up (LTFU) for HIV-infected patients new to care in rural Ethiopia, 142 patients were assigned 1 of 13 trained community health support workers (CHSWs) who were HIV positive and from the same neighborhood/village. The CHSWs provided HIV and health ...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this integrative literature review was to explore factors that are related to sexual practices among Latino adolescents and identify which of those factors are common across successful sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV intervention programs for Latino adolescents. DESIGN An integrative literature review was conducted. Search terms included Latino, Hispanic, edu...