To reach the second target (95% of people who know their status are on HIV treatment), two things must happen: linkage to care and retention on treatment.
Linkage to care is a vital first step in HIV treatment. This is defined as registering for pre-ART or ART care within one month of HIV diagnosis. Assessing and addressing the gap between knowledge of HIV status and treatment initiation is a priority in the HIV care continuum. Not only is linkage to care a necessary first step for initiation of ART and viral suppression, but it also plays a crucial role in “treatment for prevention”.
Despite remarkable advances in engaging people who know their HIV status in ART, it is not possible to achieve this target without a significant focus on retention in care. Developing and implementing diverse and targeted strategies in improving retention in care is needed to successfully ensure engagement in care.
This event will provide an overview of existing strategies, in particular, the role of e-health, and challenges to improve linkage to and retention in care. The aim is to engage the industry in developing and adopting strategies, including engagement with legislators and healthcare implementers, which would support improving linkage to and engagement in care.
This session is the second out of three in the Reaching the 95-95-95 targets: The importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration series. Watch session 1 here and session 3 here.
