Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Juliana Ngalula, MPH¹, Nicodemus Butamanya, Medical Officer², Gail Fraser Chanpong, DrPH³, Kajiru Mhando¹, Steven Brasch³, Joel Ndayongeje⁴, Geoffrey Somi⁴, Bwijo Bwijo⁴, Roland Swai⁴, Bazghina Semo³, Mark Hawken³, Jessica Justman⁵, Matthew Rosenthal⁵, Wafaa El-Sadr⁵, and Denis Nash⁵. (1) Sekou Toure Regional Hospital, P.O. Box 80214, Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, +255 744 465 382, jngalula@hotmail.com, (2) Mwanza, Sekou Toure Regional Hospital, P.O. Box 80214, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, (3) Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, P.O. Box 80214, Dar es Salaam, 80214, Tanzania, (4) National AIDS Control Programme, NACPTZ, P.O.Box 80214, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, (5) International AIDS Care and Treatment Programs and Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, P.O.Box 80214, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Background: The Tanzanian National AIDS Control Program developed a strategy to roll out HIV-services, including standardized training and site accreditation. In July 2004, HIV-services were initiated at Sekou Toure Regional Hospital by offering services for the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT). The HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) was opened later in October 2004. Methods: Program enhancements focusing on strengthening patient tracking, including the implementation of a pilot electronic database, started in October 2005 to streamline HIV-service delivery. Clinical data from HIV-patient paper register/records were entered into an electronic database to enhance STRH's ability to assess clinical outcomes and assess patient retention. Results: Prior to October, 2005, 154 women delivering at the STRH maternity ward were offered PMTCT, 52 (33%) mother-infant pairs received nevirapine (NVP) for pMTCT. The CTC program enrolled 722 patients in care and initiated 280 patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) (39%). Three months after implementation of the electronic database, an increase in number of enrollments at CTC was noted with 983 patients enrolled in Care and with 580 on ART (59%). Conclusions: Results suggest an increase in number of patients receiving care and treatment at STRH, and it is also possible that the paper-based system may have undercounted the true number of patients receiving services. Following validation of electronic data, additional evaluation of HIV-service can take place, and the pilot system can be implemented at other sites.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Articulate strategies for service delivery improvement through enhanced patient monitoring.
• Understand the patient tracking procedures to improve retention.
• Visualize ways to adapt HIV-service enhancements to other low-resource, international settings.

Keywords: Information Systems, HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered