Duke Global Health Institute Associate Director of Research John Bartlett , members Nathan Thielman and John Crump and affiliate Jan Ostermann co-authored “Characteristics of HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clients Before and During Care and Treatment Scale-Up in Moshi, Tanzania,” which is published in this week’s issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Over the 4-year study, Duke researchers found HIV prevalence and rates of symptoms declined sharply at an established freestanding voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) site in Moshi, Tanzania. They concluded that HIV prevalence decreased from 26.2% to 18.9% after the availability of free antiretroviral therapy and the expansion of care and treatment centers beyond regional and referral hospitals.
Despite substantial advances in HIV diagnostics and therapeutics over the past decade, approximately 2.5 million people were newly infected in the past year, bringing the global count of HIV-infected people to 33.2 million. Although many resources have been allocated to address the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, this region remains disproportionately affected, accounting for 68% of HIV-infected adults and 76% of adult and child deaths from AIDS worldwide. Continuing efforts to focus on prevention and treatment remains critical to containing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Voluntary counseling and testing has long been seen as an important intervention in sub-Saharan Africa, offering an individualized, client-centered approach that addresses prevention of transmission between partners and between mother and child. VCT also provides opportunities for early identification of infection, allowing for more effective treatment of HIV/AIDS and its coinfections, especially as access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) continues to expand.
In Tanzania, free access to ART began in September of 2004 under the HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care Plan 2003-2008. With a goal of treating 400,000 HIV-infected Tanzanian residents by the year 2008, this plan also emphasized the need to expand VCT services as the primary entry point for care and treatment.
Duke researchers found HIV prevalence and rates of symptoms declined sharply at an established freestanding voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) site in Moshi, Tanzania.
