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Endalamaw A, Gilks CF, Ambaw F, Shiferaw WS, Assefa Y. Explaining inequity in knowledge, attitude, and services related to HIV/AIDS: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:1815. [PMID: 38978024 PMCID: PMC11229290 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-19329-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Equitable service provision and coverage are important responses to end the threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Understanding inequity supports policies and programmes to deliver tailored interventions. There is continuous evidence generation on inequity in HIV/AIDS services. However, there was a lack of evidence on the global picture of inequity in behavioural and biomedical services related to HIV/AIDS. This systematic review assessed inequities in knowledge, attitude, HIV testing, and ART coverage across individual-level social groups and multiple (dis)advantage categories. METHODS This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline, with a PROSPERO registration number CRD42024521247. The risk of bias was assessed by using Hoy et al's and Joanna Brigg's quality appraisal checklists for cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative studies, respectively. The search date was from inception to the final database search date (May 29, 2023). The included articles were either quantitative or qualitative studies. We used mixed-methods approach to analyse the data from the review articles. Quantitative descriptive analysis was conducted to estimate frequency of articles published from different countries around the world. Qualitative content analysis of the findings from the original studies was conducted using the PROGRESS plus framework which stands for: place of residence, occupation or employment status, gender, religion, education status, socioeconomic status, and social capital. RESULTS Out of 6,029 articles that were accessed and screened, only 72 articles met the inclusion criteria. More articles on HIV-related equity in knowledge, attitude, testing, and ART were published in developed countries than in developing countries. Individuals from higher-income households had better knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Unfavourable attitudes towards people living with HIV and HIV/AIDS-associated stigma were common among women. HIV/AIDS service coverage (HIV testing or ART coverage) was higher among richer and urban residents. HIV/AIDS-associated stigma and lower levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS were observed among multiple disadvantageous groups due to the intersection of two or more identities. CONCLUSIONS The current review revealed that there have been disparities in HIV/AIDS services between social classes. Ending service disparity towards the global threat of HIV/AIDS demands tailored interventions based on socially disadvantaged groups (e.g., poor, rural dwellers, and women) and intersectional determinants. There is a need to understand the deep-rooted causes of inequity and the challenges that an equity-oriented system faces over time. More studies on inequity are needed, including intersectional inequity, which has been rarely studied in developing countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aklilu Endalamaw
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
- College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
| | - Charles F Gilks
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Fentie Ambaw
- College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
| | - Wondimeneh Shibabaw Shiferaw
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia
| | - Yibeltal Assefa
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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Endalamaw A, Gilks CF, Ambaw F, Habtewold TD, Assefa Y. Universal Health Coverage for Antiretroviral Treatment: A Review. Infect Dis Rep 2022; 15:1-15. [PMID: 36648855 PMCID: PMC9844463 DOI: 10.3390/idr15010001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Universal health coverage is essential for the progress to end threats of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome epidemic. The current review assesses the publication rate, strategies and barriers for antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, equity, quality of care, and financial protection. We searched Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Of the available articles, 43.13% were on ART coverage, 40.28% were on financial protection, 10.43% were on quality of care, and 6.16% were on equity. A lack of ART, fear of unwanted disclosure, lack of transportation, unaffordable health care costs, long waiting time to receive care, and poverty were barriers to ART coverage. Catastrophic health care costs were higher among individuals who were living in rural settings, walked greater distances to reach health care institutions, had a lower socioeconomic status, and were immunocompromised. There were challenges to the provision of quality of care, including health care providers' inadequate salary, high workload and inadequate health workforce, inappropriate infrastructure, lack of training opportunities, unclear division of responsibility, and the presence of strict auditing. In conclusion, ART coverage was below the global average, and key populations were disproportionally less covered with ART in most countries. Huge catastrophic health expenditures were observed. UHC contexts of ART will be improved by reaching people with poor socioeconomic status, delivering appropriate services, establishing a proper health workforce and service stewardship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aklilu Endalamaw
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar P.O. Box 79, Ethiopia
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +61-424-690-121
| | - Charles F Gilks
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Fentie Ambaw
- School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar P.O. Box 79, Ethiopia
| | - Tesfa Dejenie Habtewold
- Branch of Epidemiology, Division of Population Health Research, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9712 CP Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yibeltal Assefa
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Zuma K, Simbayi L, Zungu N, Moyo S, Marinda E, Jooste S, North A, Nadol P, Aynalem G, Igumbor E, Dietrich C, Sigida S, Chibi B, Makola L, Kondlo L, Porter S, Ramlagan S. The HIV Epidemic in South Africa: Key Findings from 2017 National Population-Based Survey. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19138125. [PMID: 35805784 PMCID: PMC9265818 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19138125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV worldwide. South Africa has implemented five population-based HIV prevalence surveys since 2002 aimed at understanding the dynamics and the trends of the epidemic. This paper presents key findings from the fifth HIV prevalence, incidence, and behaviour survey conducted in 2017 following policy, programme, and epidemic change since the prior survey was conducted in 2012. A cross-sectional population-based household survey collected behavioural and biomedical data on all members of the eligible households. A total of 39,132 respondents from 11,776 households were eligible to participate, of whom 93.6% agreed to be interviewed, and 61.1% provided blood specimens. The provided blood specimens were used to determine HIV status, HIV incidence, viral load, exposure to antiretroviral treatment, and HIV drug resistance. Overall HIV incidence among persons aged 2 years and above was 0.48% which translates to an estimated 231,000 new infections in 2017. HIV prevalence was 14.0% translating to 7.9 million people living with HIV. Antiretroviral (ARV) exposure was 62.3%, with the lowest exposure among those aged 15 to 24 years (39.9%) with 10% lower ARV coverage among males compared to females. Viral suppression among those on treatment was high (87.3%), whilst HIV population viral load suppression was much lower (62.3%). In terms of risk behaviours, 13.6% of youth reported having had an early sexual debut (first sex before the age of 15 years), with more males reporting having done so (19.5%) than females (7.6%). Age-disparate relationships, defined as having a sexual partner 5+ years different from oneself,) among adolescents were more common among females (35.8%) than males (1.5%). Self-reported multiple sexual partnerships (MSPs), defined as having more than one sexual partner in the previous 12 months, were more commonly reported by males (25.5%) than females (9.0%). Condom use at last sexual encounter was highest among males than females. Three quarters (75.2%) of people reported they had ever been tested for HIV, with more females (79.3%) having had done so than males (70.9%). Two-thirds of respondents (66.8%) self-reported having tested for HIV in the past 12 months. Finally, 61.6% of males in the survey self-reported as having been circumcised, with circumcision being more common among youth aged 15–24 years (70.2%), Black Africans (68.9%), and those living in both rural informal (tribal) areas (65%) and urban areas (61.9%). Slightly more (51.2%) male circumcisions were reported to have occurred in a medical setting than in traditional settings (44.8%), with more young males aged 15–24 (62.6%) and men aged 25–49 (51.5%) reporting to have done so compared to most men aged 50 and older (57.1%) who reported that they had undergone circumcision in a traditional setting. The results of this survey show that strides have been made in controlling the HIV epidemic, especially in the reduction of HIV incidence, HIV testing, and treatment. Although condom use at last sex act remains unchanged, there continue to be some challenges with the lack of significant behaviour change as people, especially youth, continue to engage in risky behaviour and delay treatment initiation. Therefore, there is a need to develop or scale up targeted intervention programmes to increase HIV testing further and put more people living with HIV on treatment as well as prevent risky behaviours that put young people at risk of HIV infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khangelani Zuma
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
- School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
- Correspondence:
| | - Leickness Simbayi
- Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; (L.S.); (S.M.); (S.J.); (A.N.); (L.M.)
- Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa
| | - Nompumelelo Zungu
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
- The School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Sizulu Moyo
- Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; (L.S.); (S.M.); (S.J.); (A.N.); (L.M.)
- School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South Africa
| | - Edmore Marinda
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
| | - Sean Jooste
- Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; (L.S.); (S.M.); (S.J.); (A.N.); (L.M.)
| | - Alicia North
- Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; (L.S.); (S.M.); (S.J.); (A.N.); (L.M.)
| | - Patrick Nadol
- Division of Global HIV and TB, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (P.N.); (G.A.); (E.I.); (C.D.); (S.P.)
| | - Getahun Aynalem
- Division of Global HIV and TB, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (P.N.); (G.A.); (E.I.); (C.D.); (S.P.)
| | - Ehimario Igumbor
- Division of Global HIV and TB, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (P.N.); (G.A.); (E.I.); (C.D.); (S.P.)
- School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
| | - Cheryl Dietrich
- Division of Global HIV and TB, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (P.N.); (G.A.); (E.I.); (C.D.); (S.P.)
| | - Salome Sigida
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
| | - Buyisile Chibi
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
| | - Lehlogonolo Makola
- Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; (L.S.); (S.M.); (S.J.); (A.N.); (L.M.)
| | - Lwando Kondlo
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
| | - Sarah Porter
- Division of Global HIV and TB, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (P.N.); (G.A.); (E.I.); (C.D.); (S.P.)
| | - Shandir Ramlagan
- Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; (N.Z.); (E.M.); (S.S.); (B.C.); (L.K.); (S.R.)
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Were MC, Sinha C, Catalani C. A systematic approach to equity assessment for digital health interventions: case example of mobile personal health records. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2021; 26:884-890. [PMID: 31188438 DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocz071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Revised: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the increasing number of digital health interventions in low- and middle-income countries and other low-resource settings, little attention has been paid to systematically evaluating impacts of these interventions on health equity. In this article, we present a systematic approach for assessing equity impacts of digital health interventions modeled after the Health Equity Impact Assessment of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The assessment approach has 4 steps that address (1) scope, (2) potential equity impacts, (3) mitigation, (4) monitoring, and (5) dissemination strategies. The approach examines impacts on vulnerable and marginalized populations and considers various social determinants of health. Equity principles outlined by Whitehead and Dahlgren are used to ensure systematic considerations of all potential equity impacts. The digital health evaluation approach that is presented is applied to a case example of mobile personal health record application in Kenya.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin C Were
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Chaitali Sinha
- International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Caricia Catalani
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.,Design for Health, IDEO, Palo Alto, California, USA
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Use of viral load to improve survey estimates of known HIV-positive status and antiretroviral treatment coverage. AIDS 2020; 34:631-636. [PMID: 31794520 DOI: 10.1097/qad.0000000000002453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To compare alternative methods of adjusting self-reported knowledge of HIV-positive status and antiretroviral (ARV) therapy use based on undetectable viral load (UVL) and ARV detection in blood. DESIGN Post hoc analysis of nationally representative household survey to compare alternative biomarker-based adjustments to population HIV indicators. METHODS We reclassified HIV-positive participants aged 15-64 years in the 2012 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS) who were unaware of their HIV-positive status by self-report as aware and on antiretroviral treatment if either ARVs were detected or viral load was undetectable (<550 copies/ml) on dried blood spots. We compared self-report to adjustments for ARV measurement, UVL, or both. RESULTS Treatment coverage among all HIV-positive respondents increased from 31.8% for self-report to 42.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) 37.4-47.8] based on ARV detection alone, to 42.8% (95% CI 37.9-47.8) when ARV-adjusted, 46.2% (95% CI 41.3-51.1) when UVL-adjusted and 48.8% (95% CI 43.9-53.8) when adjusted for either ARV or UVL. Awareness of positive status increased from 46.9% for self-report to 56.2% (95% CI 50.7-61.6) when ARV-adjusted, 57.5% (95% CI 51.9-63.0) when UVL-adjusted, and 59.8% (95% CI 54.2-65.1) when adjusted for either ARV or UVL. CONCLUSION Undetectable viral load, which is routinely measured in surveys, may be a useful adjunct or alternative to ARV detection for adjusting survey estimates of knowledge of HIV status and antiretroviral treatment coverage.
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