What is it about?
The study aims to assess changes in HIV treatment outcomes for Jamaica before and after the implementation of the WHO Treat All strategy in January 2017. We also assess characteristics of PLHIV on treatment, before and after the implementation of the new treatment strategy, by identifying factors associated with the stage at diagnosis and viral load status, in order to understand implications for enhancing the HIV treatment cascade and population based outcomes for Jamaica.
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Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Jamaica has made progress in HIV testing/diagnosis but retention on treatment and viral suppression are lagging. The study showed how implementation of the new strategy has improved these goals but men are still a challenge which is an issue globally. The sex disparity has to be addressed if the global targets are to be achieved.
Perspectives
I enjoyed working with the national HIV treatment data and developing an epidemiologic methodology to evaluate a program strategy. This really demonstrates the relevance of epidemiology even in evaluating programs. There is limited quantitative research on the national program for Jamaica so it was a pleasure contributing to the gap in analysis. I hope this article encourages more published research from Jamaica and on the national HIV response.
Anya Cushnie
University of Tampere
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: HIV program outcomes for Jamaica before and after “Treat All”: A population-based study using the national treatment services database, PLoS ONE, August 2021, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255781.
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