'Don't forget the children' - test before it is too late

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Diseases
• Pediatrics

Background:

• The 2009
• Don't forget the children
• guideline mandates identification and HIV testing for children of newly diagnosed HIV-positive adults.
• Adherence to this guideline is crucial for early diagnosis and management of pediatric HIV.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the
• Don't forget the children
• guideline on the identification and HIV testing of children of HIV-positive women.
• To assess the documentation process for pediatric HIV testing in an adult HIV service.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective case note review of 173 HIV-positive women registered between 2009 and 2014.
• Data analyzed pre- and post-guideline implementation (n=108 pre, n=65 post).
• Assessment of documented HIV testing status for eligible children.

Main Results:

• Only 54% (43/80) of eligible children had documented HIV test results.
• Documentation of the need for testing significantly improved post-guideline (67% to 100%).
• Median time from recognition of need to testing remained unchanged at 24 months.

Conclusions:

• While the guideline improved the identification and testing of at-risk children, significant documentation gaps remain.
• Further improvements are needed to ensure all eligible children are tested and results are documented.
• Optimizing the cascade of care for pediatric HIV testing requires ongoing attention and process refinement.