HIV prevention in care and treatment settings: baseline risk behaviors among HIV patients in Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania

• Published in: PloS one 2013-02, Vol.8 (2), p.e57215-e57215
• Main Authors: Kidder, Daniel P, Bachanas, Pam, Medley, Amy, Pals, Sherri, Nuwagaba-Biribonwoha, Harriet, Ackers, Marta, Howard, Andrea, Deluca, Nick, Mbatia, Redempta, Sheriff, Muhsin, Arthur, Gilly, Katuta, Frieda, Cherutich, Peter, Somi, Geoffrey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adolescent; Adult; AIDS; Alcohol use; Antiretroviral drugs; Behavior; Condoms; Delivery of Health Care; Demographic variables; Demographics; Demography; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Female; Health aspects; Health Behavior; Health risks; Health Status; HIV; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - prevention & control; HIV Infections - transmission; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Intervention; Kenya; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medication Adherence; Medicine; Middle Aged; Namibia; Patient compliance; Pregnancy; Prevention; Risk; Risk taking; Sexually transmitted disease prevention; Surveys; Tanzania; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057215

HIV care and treatment settings provide an opportunity to reach people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) with prevention messages and services. Population-based surveys in sub-Saharan Africa have identified HIV risk behaviors among PLHIV, yet data are limited regarding HIV risk behaviors of PLHIV in clinical care. This paper describes the baseline sociodemographic, HIV transmission risk behaviors, and clinical data of a study evaluating an HIV prevention intervention package for HIV care and treatment clinics in Africa. The study was a longitudinal group-randomized trial in 9 intervention clinics and 9 comparison clinics in Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania (N = 3538). Baseline participants were mostly female, married, had less than a primary education, and were relatively recently diagnosed with HIV. Fifty-two percent of participants had a partner of negative or unknown status, 24% were not using condoms consistently, and 11% reported STI symptoms in the last 6 months. There were differences in demographic and HIV transmission risk variables by country, indicating the need to consider local context in designing studies and using caution when generalizing findings across African countries. Baseline data from this study indicate that participants were often engaging in HIV transmission risk behaviors, which supports the need for prevention with PLHIV (PwP). ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01256463.