September 12, 2016

Making strides in HIV testing and counseling

Irene Njuguna and Jill Neary are MPH Candidates in Epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health. With mentorship from Global WACh researcher Jenn Slyker and Kenyatta National Hospital VCT Director Dr. David Bukusi, they developed a new tool to track provider initiated HIV testing and counseling for children admitted to hospitals in Kenya. Read about their work below.  

In line with the World Health Organization recommendations, the Kenya National HIV testing guidelines recommend universal provider initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) for all children in sub Saharan Africa who come in contact with health care facilities. However, in many settings universal PITC is not routinely implemented, with ward transfers, weekend admissions, and discharges resulting in some missed testing opportunities. This results in late diagnosis of HIV infected children, who are at high risk of mortality and do not benefit fully from HIV treatment.

This project began with the intent to intervene in this cycle of unmet HIV care needs. The team looked to Kenya’s national referral hospital: Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Working with the PITC team at KNH, the team established an important framework for developing easy to use, acceptable tools to track and improve PITC coverage. In partnership with the KNH pediatric ward PITC counselors, a system was developed to track each individual child admitted, confirm testing completion, identify reasons any children missed testing, and flag children requiring testing.

The tool was successfully piloted in the pediatric department, and at the end of the practicum period, the PITC team recommended that the tool also be used in the adult in-patient medical wards.

Jill Neary (left) and Irene Njuguna (right) with Ruth Andere: the leader of the Pediatric PITC team.

Congratulations Irene, Jill, and the entire KNH team for your accomplishment! We can look forward to hearing about the continued success of PITC at Kenyatta National Hospital.