Universal Test and Connect for HIV Service Delivery in South Africa

The overarching goal of this proposal is to deliver comprehensive HIV services for patients with HIV or at high risk of HIV acquisition attending the Emergency Department (ED) in South Africa (SA). The investigators seek to integrate HIV assessment in the ED and define the opportunity for delivering biomedical HIV prevention interventions in this setting. EDs provide care to high volumes of adults who may not otherwise interact with the health system, and thus are an important testing and linkage to care venue. Access to both preventative (pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis) and therapeutic (ART (antiretroviral) initiation) HIV services from the ED can expand care to otherwise missed populations and aligns directly with a differentiated service delivery model that is integrated within existing, sustainable service delivery models.

Universal test and connect (UTC) is a holistic strategy that endeavors to accelerate the race to reduce new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses. Trials in Africa have shown that within three years of implementing a community-wide UTC program, HIV incidence decreased by 20-30%, and AIDS-related mortality decreased by 20% . This strategy resulted in increased diagnosis among men and provided preventative resources to young women. Given ED patients' vulnerabilities and lack of access to routine services, UTC is a new and needed tool to provide comprehensive ED-based HIV services. Currently, testing is haphazard, and while occupational exposure may be addressed, preventative strategies for other high-risk exposures are not.

The investigators seek to demonstrate that the ED has a high volume of patients that could potentially benefit from HIV services (i.e., HIV testing, ART initiation, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)/post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) initiation, and linkage to care) and that HIV service delivery in this venue is necessary and feasible to integrate. Furthermore, the investigators seek to explore the missed opportunity to deliver PrEP in the ED, thus expanding PrEP access to all segments of the population. The investigators propose to demonstrate that PrEP initiation in the ED is an important investment to providing holistic care for ED patients and that providers will be accepting of ED-based PrEP delivery if HIV testing and PrEP initiation can be effectively integrated into clinical workflow.

• The number of potentially PrEP eligible patients with tuberculosis or acute HIV [Срок оценки: Baseline]
• The number of potentially PrEP eligible patients with renal dysfunction [Срок оценки: Baseline]
• The number of potentially PrEP eligible patients who report baseline difficulty to engage in follow up required to be on PrEP [Срок оценки: Baseline]
• Acceptability of ED PrEP to ED Providers [Срок оценки: after implementation of UTC]