Effectiveness of HIV Linkage to HIV Positive Clients on Treatment in Hospitals in Uganda: The Case of Mengo and Mukono Hospitals HIV Departments

Abstract

The HIV situation remains a challenge with an expected 36.7 million people infected. In Uganda more than 1,300,000 to 1,600,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2015 out of 44.27 million Ugandans (UNAIDS, 2017), enrolling 230 HIV new infections daily. Despite of the endeavors in HIV/AIDS testing, linkage and enrolment remains a major challenge, adding to a majority testing positive without linkage to care. With this background, the study focused on the analysis of current prevalence rate, opportunistic infections, deaths, and attitude of those tested positive towards enrolling for treatment. The study also examined issues of stigma, denial, distance, negligence, and ignorance. The objectives of the study were to assess the linkage time lag between the time of testing and the time of actual enrollment of clients that test HIV positive. It also aimed to check the reported linkages and actual enrollments and to examine the reasons as to why those linked for care don’t enroll for HIV care services.