Publication Date: 2023/06/22
Abstract: Background: Conflicting school hours pose a significant challenge to viral load sample collection coverage for HIV-positive school-age children in Nigeria. This paper highlights the merits of the weekend viremia clinic services in improving viral load coverage and suppression among HIV-positive school-aged children with missed opportunities as a result of conflicting school hours. Methods: The weekend viremia clinic service was implemented from February 2020 to October 2022. We listed the HIV-positive school-age patients who were eligible for viral load tests from the electronic medical records and batched them according to their local government area of residence. Ethical approval for patients’ home visits was obtained from the State Ministry of Health. The patients were assigned to the Orphan and Vulnerable Children case managers who facilitated the mobilization of the test-eligible HIVpositive children to ART centers on Saturdays for viral load sample collection. The consent of the caregivers was obtained via phone calls prior to the home visits.
Keywords: Conflicting; School Hours; Weekend; Viral Load; Coverage; Suppression; Facilitated, ChildConvenient.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8099378
PDF: https://ijirst.demo4.arinfotech.co/assets/upload/files/IJISRT23JUN243.pdf
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