PREVIEW

Strategies for Identifying and Linking HIV-Infected Infants, Children, and Adolescents to HIV Care and Treatment

January 1, 2015
Organization: CDC and USAID

Roughly 75% of infants who do not receive ART will die before their 5th birthday; however, results suggest that only three out of ten children who are eligible for treatment receive it. Treatment coverage for children living with HIV is unacceptably low, thus highlighting the critical need to identify and diagnose children as the first step in a continuum of care. This document discusses five promising testing strategies to increase HIV case findings: 1) strengthen early infant diagnosis; 2) test all children of adults receiving any HIV service including PMTCT, care, or ART through facility or home-based index case testing; 3) test all children and adolescents receiving OVC services; 4) test all child and adolescents attending tuberculosis clinics, malnutrition services, and/or are admitted to the pediatric ward; and 5) in high prevalence areas test mothers or infants attending immunization or under-5 clinics in order to identify HIV-exposed infants.