Abstract
Timely uptake of Antiretroviral therapy considerably improves the health of people living with the Human Immunodeficiency virus. We conducted a cross-sectional study of newly HIV diagnosed individuals in four clinics in eThekwini municipality, KwaZulu-Natal. Data was collected between June 2020 and December 2020. Participants completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire after HIV testing, on the day of HIV diagnosis. We evaluated factors influencing uptake of same-day ART initiation in eThekwini clinics, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Demographic information, health status, sexual behaviour, knowledge of universal test and treat (UTT), ART initiation uptake, and disclosure data was collected. Among the 403 participants, same-day initiation (SDI) was 69.2% (n = 279). We observed the number of sexual partners (aOR 0.35; 95% CI 0.15–0.81), HIV status of the partner (aOR 5.03; 95% CI 2.74–9.26) and knowledge of UTT (aOR 1.97; 95% CI 1.34–2.90) were identified as major factors influencing uptake of same-day ART initiation. More strategies are needed to achieve the SDI uptake within the framework of UTT.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as the commencement of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the same day of HIV diagnosis [1]
Of 461 individuals invited to participate in the study, 403 agreed to take part
Participants who provided complete information relating to variables of interest were included in the final analytical sample
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as the commencement of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the same day of HIV diagnosis [1]. Global effort on decreasing continuous HIV transmission emphasizes the need for routine HIV testing and timely uptake of ART [3]. South Africa carries about 17% of the world's HIV-positive population [2, 7] making it the heaviest carrier of the global HIV burden. Within South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal province is the worst affected having about 1.6 million HIV-positive individuals and over 50% prevalence between the ages 15 to 25 years [4]. To shrink continuous HIV transmission, South Africa adopted the universal test and treat (UTT) policy for eligible individuals in September 2016 [8].
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