HIV Testing Disruptions and Service Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

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.

Assessing the resilience of HIV healthcare services provided to adolescents and young adults after the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Beira (Mozambique): an interrupted time series analysis

“…In LMICs, the adaptation of HIV services mainly relayed on differentiated service delivery (DSD), in particular for ART services [ 30 ]. In Mozambique, managers and providers from the Ministry of Health acknowledged a positive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it loosened eligibility criteria for enrolment in fast-track and 3-months ART dispensing [ 31 ].…”

Trends of Hepatitis A Virus Infection in Poland: Assessing the Potential Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and War in Ukraine

“…It is known that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the epidemiology of various viral infections through two main pathways: (i) limited access to diagnostics as a result of the reorganization of the healthcare system and imposed lockdown measures, and (ii) attenuated transmissibility due to sanitary measures and social distancing [ 42 , 43 ]. We found that during the early phase of the pandemic and during the dominance of the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant, the rate of newly diagnosed HAV infections was lower than in preceding years.…”