Publication Cover
AIDS Care
Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume 23, 2011 - Issue 1
198
Views
6
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Effect of changing antiretroviral treatment eligibility criteria on patient load in Kampala, Uganda

, , , , &
Pages 35-41 | Received 01 Dec 2009, Published online: 05 Oct 2010
 

Abstract

In many resource-poor countries, CD4 count thresholds of eligibility for antiretroviral treatment (ART) were initially low (<200 cells/mm3) but are now being increased to improve patient survival and to reduce HIV transmission. There are few quantitative data on the effect of such increases on the demand for ART. The objective of this study was to measure HIV prevalence and the proportion of HIV-positives eligible for antiretroviral therapy at different CD4 cut-off levels among users of public health care services in Kampala, Uganda. We recruited 1200 adults from three primary care clinics in Kampala, including equal numbers of family planning (FP) clients, pregnant women, adult patients with any complaint, and persons seeking HIV counseling and testing. All participants were screened for HIV and those positive had a CD4 count done. HIV prevalence in all patients was 16.9% (203/1200). ART eligibility based on CD4 counts significantly increased from 36% at a 200 cells/mm3 cut-off to 44% at 250 cells and to 57% at 350 cells cut-off (p for χ2 trend<0.001). We concluded that changing cut-off levels to higher CD4 counts will significantly increase patient load in Kampala's primary care clinics, but a phased implementation should minimize negative effects on quality of care.

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge all our collaborators in this study including Makerere University School of Public Health, the INTERACT Project, Kampala City Health Department, and the health units where the study was based. We are also grateful to all the individuals who participated in the study. This study was done as part of the INTERACT Program and funded by the European Union (SANTE/2006/105-316).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 464.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.