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HIV/AIDS Tanzania
In Tanzania, the acute shortage of physicians and nurses is severely limiting the rollout of HIV care and treatment. These factors have contributed to a growing interest in task-shifting, i.e. delegating routine tasks being performed by physicians to other categories of health workers. Key to the success of task shifting is the ability to maintain high standards of care despite the use of non-physicians to provide care and treatment to HIV/AIDS patients.
D-tree International has developed a set of clinical protocols for the purpose of triaging HIV/AIDS patients receiving ART. These protocols prompt a nurse or other health worker to ask each patient a series of questions regarding side effects of their treatment or other health problems related to their HIV status and determine whether the patient can safely continue on his or her current medication regimen or requires the attention of a physician.
This protocol was shown to be effective in this triage process in South Africa under research conditions and the current project is to adapt these protocols for use in Tanzania and validate their clinical effectiveness and safety. Of particular emphasis is screening for TB due to the high incidence of co-infection of TB in HIV positive patients.
With generous support from the Centers for Disease Control, we are working in the Pwani Region of Tanzania with our partners IntraHealth International and the National AIDS Control Program to adapt HIV patient screening protocols and software that have been used in South Africa trials for use in Tanzanian Care and Treatment Centers (CTCs). As part of this program, we are also doing a formal validating of these protocols for safety and efficacy in a clinical setting. Our goal is to improve the efficiency and quality of HIV patient screening and increase the capacity to provide treatment for patients in HIV CTCs in Tanzania.
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