Changes in population HIV RNA levels in Mbarara, Uganda, during scale-up of HIV antiretroviral therapy access.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

In a rural Ugandan community scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART), we sought to determine if population-based HIV RNA levels [population viral load (VL)] decreased from 2011 to 2012.

Design

Serial cross-sectional analyses (May 2011 and May 2012) of a defined study community of 6300 persons in a district with HIV prevalence of 8%.

Methods

We measured HIV-1 RNA (VL) levels on all individuals testing positive for HIV during a 5-day high-throughput multidisease community health campaign in May 2012 that recruited two-thirds of the population. We aggregated individual-level VL results into population VL metrics including the proportion of individuals with an undetectable VL and compared these VL metrics to those we previously reported for this geographic regio

SUBMITTER: Jain V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4172444 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature