South Africa has the largest HIV-infected population in the world, with 2015 estimates of 7 million people living with HIV and 180,000 AIDS-related deaths. The South African government began scale-up of a public-sector HIV care and treatment program in 2004, and by the end of 2015, 3.4 million HIV-infected individuals were on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
When scale-up began in South Africa, ART was only available to HIV-infected individuals with CD4 counts ≤200 cells/µL or WHO clinical stage 4 disease. In 2010, treatment was extended to patients who were pregnant or who had tuberculosis and a CD4 ≤350 cells/µL, and in 2011, eligibility was extended to all patients with CD4 ≤350 cells/µL. In 2013 patients with WHO clinical stage 3 disease became eligible. In 2015, the eligibility threshold was increased to CD4 ≤500 cells/µL, and in 2016, the South African National Department of Health announced that the country would implement a “test and treat” strategy, offering free ART to all HIV-infected individuals, regardless of CD4 count.
This dissertation examines the effectiveness of several expansions and modifications to South Africa’s treatment program. In study 1, we investigated whether the 2011 extension of HIV treatment to patients with CD4 counts ≤350 cells/µL successfully increased the number of newly-eligible patients on treatment (those with CD4 counts between 201–350 cells/µL) without crowding out previously-eligible patients with more severe disease (CD4 counts ≤200 cells/µL), focusing on a network of rural clinics in KwaZulu-Natal. We found encouraging results, with newly-eligible patients (CD4 201–350) initiating treatment at a greater frequency (73.0 additional patients per month; 95% CI: 42.1; 103.9) and 47% faster than before (95% CI: 19%; 82%), while previously eligible patients (CD4 ≤200) experienced no decline in the number of patients initiating treatment or the speed of treatment uptake.
In study 2, we evaluated whether the introduction of a single-pill fixed-dose combination (FDC) treatment for ART initiators in South Africa had an impact on attrition from care compared to the previously-recommended multiple-pill regimen. We focused on an urban clinic in Johannesburg, using four different clinic attendance measures to define attrition (generally a combined measure of loss to follow-up and mortality). An intention-to-treat analysis revealed an estimated 11.3 percentage point decrease in attrition (95% CI: -22.0; -0.6) associated with the policy change, while a regression discontinuity analysis estimated an 18.0 percentage point drop in attrition (95% CI: -33.6; -2.4) associated with single-pill FDC treatment relative to multiple pills, controlling for unmeasured confounding.
In study 3, we used stratified instrumental variable analysis to examine whether the effect of FDCs on attrition varied across subsets of the patient population in the same Johannesburg clinic we evaluated in study 2. We saw larger effects among women (RD -0.25; 95% CI: -0.42; -0.09), non-anemic patients (RD -0.24; 95% CI: -0.41; -0.08), patients with early-stage (as opposed to advanced) clinical disease (RD -0.20; 95% CI: -0.32; -0.07), and those with high CD4 counts (for CD4 ≥350 cells/µL, RD -0.58; 95% CI: -1.58; 0.42). These results suggest that healthier patients saw the greatest improvement in retention in care following the switch from multiple-pill to single-pill regimens. In an era where the healthiest HIV-infected patients are now being targeted for ART treatment, FDCs can play a large role in preventing attrition from care.
These three studies depict an HIV program that has successfully grown to treat increasing numbers of patients using up-to-date strategies of care. Given the immense scale and cost of South Africa’s HIV treatment program, it is important to continue to monitor its effectiveness, especially as it introduces new treatments and strategies and adapts to the changing epidemic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/27163 |
| Date | 08 November 2017 |
| Creators | Kluberg, Sheryl |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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