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Bedside paediatric HIV testing in Malawi: Impact on testing rates
Marita Macken1,2, James Chan1, Bernadette O'Hare3,4
1Department of Paediatrics, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.
Insights
Implementing bedside HIV testing significantly boosted testing rates in Malawian pediatric inpatients. This improvement is crucial for early HIV treatment and reducing child mortality.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Infectious Diseases
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC) is recommended for all inpatients in Malawi, but HIV testing rates remain low among children.
- Auditing existing HIV testing services revealed low testing uptake among pediatric inpatients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To audit the effect of implementing a bedside diagnostic HIV testing service to improve testing rates among pediatric inpatients.
- To determine if a bedside HIV testing service could increase the proportion of children tested during admission.
Main Methods:
- An initial audit of HIV testing services was conducted.
- A bedside diagnostic HIV testing service was introduced, supported by health system strengthening measures.
- A re-audit was performed to assess the impact of the bedside testing service.
Main Results:
- The proportion of pediatric inpatients with documented HIV tests increased significantly from 63% to 94.8% after implementing bedside testing.
- The percentage of children tested for HIV during admission rose from 31.9% to 68.1%.
- The proportion of tested children with results within the last 3 months increased from 61% to 94.5%.
Conclusions:
- Implementing a bedside HIV testing service significantly improved HIV testing rates among pediatric inpatients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.
- Increased HIV testing in pediatric inpatients has crucial implications for earlier treatment initiation.
- Improved testing can lead to reduced HIV-associated morbidity and mortality in children.
Background:
Provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC) is recommended for all inpatients in Malawi if they have not been tested in the previous 3 months. However testing rates remain low among children. We audited the effect of implementing a bedside diagnostic HIV testing service to determine if it would improve testing rates amongst paediatric inpatients.
Methods:
We audited the existing HIV testing service to determine the numbers of children being tested for HIV. This was followed by the introduction of a bedside diagnostic service followed by re-audit. Bedside testing was facilitated by health systems strengthening measures including identification of suitable counsellors, appropriate supervision and remuneration.
Results:
In the initial audit in March-April 2014, 85 (63%) of 135 children had documented HIV tests.. Following implementation of the bedside HIV testing service, there was a significant increase in the proportion of children whose HIV status was known. On re-audit in July 2015, 110 (94.8%) of 116 children had documented HIV tests (p<0.001). Of those with documented tests, 94.5% had been tested within the last 3-months compared to 61% in 2014. Following the introduction of the service, the proportion of children tested for HIV during admission increased from 31.9% to 68.1% (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Implementation of a bedside testing service at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital significantly increased HIV testing among paediatric inpatients. This has important implications in establishing earlier treatment, reducing HIV-associated morbidity and mortality.
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