HIV testing, ART uptake increasing rapidly in Africa

There has been rapid uptake of HIV testing and ART treatment at sites in eastern and southern Africa, researchers said at AIDS 2014.

“Early and universal HIV testing and ART initiation are important policy objectives for reducing the mortality impact of AIDS and mitigate onward transmission,” Emma Slaymaker, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues wrote in the study abstract. “Population-wide evidence is needed to assess the uptake and impact of HIV/AIDS services in the region.”

The researchers used data from six surveillance sites collaborating with the ALPHA Network in Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The pooled data contained information on vital events, HIV testing and ART uptake for more than 45,000 people with HIV from the early 1990s to 2012. They evaluated diagnosis and death after seroconversion, ART initiation and death after seroconversion, and mortality after ART initiation.

They found that more than 75% of men and women who seroconverted after 2005 were diagnosed within 6 years, and that death before diagnosis was increasingly rare. Most patients initiated treatment within 6 years, but up to 8% died without ever receiving ART. Before 2008, approximately 10% of the patients died within 1 year of initiating ART and 20% died within 6 years. However, less than 5% of people who started ART more recently died within the first year. Lastly, they found that the uptake of services was higher for women, who also had a lower mortality.

“HIV testing and ART uptake are increasing rapidly in successive treatment cohorts and mortality before and after treatment initiation is declining,” the researchers said. “Gender differences in the uptake of services persist, but regional differences are dissipating.”

For more information:

Reniers G. #TUPDC0102. Presented at: 20th International AIDS Conference; July 20-25, 2014; Melbourne, Australia.