School of Health Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Cairns Campus, 42-52 Abbott Street & Shields Street, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia.
School of Health & Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh, EH11 4BN, UK.
AIDS Behav. 2024 Jan;28(1):186-200. doi: 10.1007/s10461-023-04139-4. Epub 2023 Aug 7.
Access to treatment and care in safe clinical settings improves people's lives with HIV. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted vital HIV programs and services, increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes for people with HIV and HIV transmission rates in the community. This systematic literature review provides a meta-analysis of HIV testing disruptions and a synthesis of HIV/AIDS services adapted during COVID-19. We searched scholarly databases from 01 January 2020 to 30 June 2022 using key terms on HIV testing rates and services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of how the included articles were identified, selected, appraised, and synthesised was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We included 17 articles that reported changes in HIV testing during the COVID-19 pandemic and 22 that reported adaptations in HIV/AIDS services. We found that HIV testing decreased by 37% during the search period because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Service providers adopted novel strategies to support remote service delivery by expanding community antiretroviral therapy dispensing, setting up primary care outreach points, and instituting multi-month dispensing services to sustain client care. Therefore, service providers and policymakers should explore alternative strategies to increase HIV testing rates impacted by COVID-19 and leverage funding to continue providing the identified adapted services.
在安全的临床环境中获得治疗和护理可以改善艾滋病毒感染者的生活。COVID-19 大流行扰乱了重要的艾滋病毒方案和服务，增加了艾滋病毒感染者不良健康结果的风险，并增加了社区中艾滋病毒的传播率。本系统文献综述对 COVID-19 期间的艾滋病毒检测中断和艾滋病毒/艾滋病服务的调整进行了荟萃分析。我们使用关于 COVID-19 大流行期间艾滋病毒检测率和服务的关键术语，从 2020 年 1 月 1 日至 2022 年 6 月 30 日在学术数据库中进行了搜索。根据系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目 (PRISMA) 指南报告了纳入文章的识别、选择、评估和综合过程。我们纳入了 17 篇报告 COVID-19 大流行期间艾滋病毒检测变化的文章和 22 篇报告艾滋病毒/艾滋病服务调整的文章。我们发现，由于 COVID-19 大流行，艾滋病毒检测在搜索期间下降了 37%。服务提供者采取了新的策略，通过扩大社区抗逆转录病毒治疗分发、设立初级保健外展点和实施多月份分发服务来支持远程服务提供，以维持客户护理。因此，服务提供者和政策制定者应探索增加受 COVID-19 影响的艾滋病毒检测率的替代策略，并利用资金继续提供确定的调整后的服务。
