Abstract
Objective: This paper aims to evaluate the potential solutions to address negative
outcomes of HIV care and treatment, that were proposed by HIV care providers,
researchers and HIV programme managers in Southwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A nominal group technique (NGT) was conducted with 25 experts in
December 2017 in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia. The NGT process included (a) an
analysis of the previously qualitative study conducted with various Ethiopian HIV
stakeholders who proposed possible solutions for HIV care and treatment; (b) recruitment of a panel of HIV experts in policy and practice to rate the proposed solutions in Ethiopia before a discussion (first round rating); (c) discussion with the panel of experts on the suggested solutions; and (d) conducting a second round of rating of proposed solutions. Content analysis and Wilcoxon signed rank test were applied to analyse the data.
Results: Eighteen of the 25 invited panel of experts participated in the NGT. The
following proposed solutions were rated and discussed as relevant, feasible and acceptable. In order of decreasing importance, the solutions were as follows: filling gaps in legislation, HIV self-testing, the teach-test-link-trace strategy, house-to-house HIV testing, community antiretroviral therapy (ART) groups, providing ART in private clinics and providing ART at health posts.
Conclusions: The current study findings suggested that, to address HIV negative
outcomes, priority solutions could include mandatory notification of partner's HIV
status, HIV self-testing and the involvement of peer educators on the entire HIV care programme.
K E Y W O R D S
ART in health post, ART in private clinic, HIV self-testing, house to house HIV testing, nominal group technique, Policy
outcomes of HIV care and treatment, that were proposed by HIV care providers,
researchers and HIV programme managers in Southwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A nominal group technique (NGT) was conducted with 25 experts in
December 2017 in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia. The NGT process included (a) an
analysis of the previously qualitative study conducted with various Ethiopian HIV
stakeholders who proposed possible solutions for HIV care and treatment; (b) recruitment of a panel of HIV experts in policy and practice to rate the proposed solutions in Ethiopia before a discussion (first round rating); (c) discussion with the panel of experts on the suggested solutions; and (d) conducting a second round of rating of proposed solutions. Content analysis and Wilcoxon signed rank test were applied to analyse the data.
Results: Eighteen of the 25 invited panel of experts participated in the NGT. The
following proposed solutions were rated and discussed as relevant, feasible and acceptable. In order of decreasing importance, the solutions were as follows: filling gaps in legislation, HIV self-testing, the teach-test-link-trace strategy, house-to-house HIV testing, community antiretroviral therapy (ART) groups, providing ART in private clinics and providing ART at health posts.
Conclusions: The current study findings suggested that, to address HIV negative
outcomes, priority solutions could include mandatory notification of partner's HIV
status, HIV self-testing and the involvement of peer educators on the entire HIV care programme.
K E Y W O R D S
ART in health post, ART in private clinic, HIV self-testing, house to house HIV testing, nominal group technique, Policy
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1326-1337 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Health Expectations |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 5 Aug 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2020 |
Bibliographical note
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Keywords
- ART in health post
- ART in private clinic
- HIV self-testing
- house to house HIV testing
- nominal group technique
- Policy
