Smart Linkage to Care : Evaluation Report
Many new HIV cases are lost to follow-up before they can be enrolled in care and treatment programs. This report summarises a proof-of-concept evaluation of a mHealth intervention which aims to improve linkage of newly diagnosed HIV cases to care....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/374611542662090016/Smart-Linkage-to-Care-Evaluation-Report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30862 |
| Summary: | Many new HIV cases are lost to follow-up
before they can be enrolled in care and treatment programs.
This report summarises a proof-of-concept evaluation of a
mHealth intervention which aims to improve linkage of newly
diagnosed HIV cases to care. The design was a randomised
controlled multi-center trial enrolling consenting patients
in clinics in Inner-city Johannesburg. The trial developed
and tested the “SmartLink” app which is designed to make
laboratory data directly available to patients via a secure
account and send them appointment reminder and notifications
on their smartphone. The primary endpoint was linkage to
care in the first 8 months after diagnosis, as evidenced by
a HIV-related laboratory test. The report provides the key
findings on phone ownership of the target group, and which
demographics can best be reached via apps and data-based
communication (which is cheaper and offers more scope than
text messaging). The app worked best in younger HIV patients
under 30 years of age, who had their linkage to HIV care
improved by 20 percent through the app. This younger age
group is difficult to reach with traditional interventions,
and reacted positively to a technology solution. The unique
feature of this custom-made app (sending real-time CD4/VL
test data from the laboratory database to HIV clients) is
highly scalable among smartphone owners. |
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