HIV care during COVID restrictions in Uganda: what happened, how it happened, and who did what?

What is it about?

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, several restrictions were imposed that constituted a lockdown. People living with HIV (PLHIV) could not access health facilities for HIV care, treatment, and prevention services. Many were left stranded. We, therefore, sought to understand how HIV services were organized and delivered during the COVID-19 restrictions. Our findings highlight several measures that health managers, practitioners, and patients can select from in future restrictions to continue with HIV care, treatment, prevention, and support services in Uganda and elsewhere.

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Why is it important?

We found several approaches were used to deliver HIV care, treatment, and support services to PLHIV. The use of mobile phones for counseling distressed PLHIV, supporting adherence to HIV medications, and sending reminders about treatment refills are important to recognize. Referral of PLHIV to receive their HIV medications at the nearest health facility, refill of HIV medications for a longer period (about 3-6 months) to prevent stock-outs, use of peer networks to collect and deliver HIV medications, and reliance on community-level HIV medication delivery measures are some of the important measures to recognize. These measures led to improved access to viral load testing, viral load suppression, and reduced mortality during the period with restrictions compared to that without.

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