Community-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery for female sex workers in Tanzania: intervention model and baseline findings.

Lung Vu, Waimar Tun, Louis Apicella, Caterina Casalini, Neema Makyao, Samantha Tsang, Denna Michael, Todd Koppenhaver, Erick Mlanga

AIDS care 2020 Jun

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To increase linkage to and retention in antiretroviral therapy (ART) care, we piloted a community-based, ART service delivery intervention for female sex workers (FSWs). At baseline, we recruited and collected data from 617 FSWs (intervention: 309; comparison: 308) who were HIV positive and not on ART. This paper presents (1) the description of the intervention model, and (2) key descriptive and bivariate-level findings of the baseline FSW cohort. The data showed more than half of FSWs had a non-paying sex partner, and less than one-third used a condom at last sex with paying and non-paying clients, which suggest potentially high levels of HIV transmission. In addition, there is a gap in HIV testing and treatment because one-third learned about their HIV-positive status only at study enrollment, and among FSWs who had known their status for more than a month, half had not registered in care. This substantiates the importance of timely HIV diagnosis and treatment. A community-based ART program may serve as an important strategy in closing the HIV care and treatment gap for FSWs.

Citation

Lung Vu, Waimar Tun, Louis Apicella, Caterina Casalini, Neema Makyao, Samantha Tsang, Denna Michael, Todd Koppenhaver, Erick Mlanga. Community-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery for female sex workers in Tanzania: intervention model and baseline findings. AIDS care. 2020 Jun;32(6):729-734