Active pediatric HIV case finding in Kenya and Uganda

Overview

Children living with HIV remain undiagnosed due to missed opportunities along the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission cascade. This study, published in PLosOne in June 2020 addresses programmatic gaps in the cascade by describing pregnancy and HIV-related services received by mothers of children newly identified as HIV-positive through active case finding. We found multiple missed opportunities for HIV prevention and delays in HIV testing of HIV-exposed children were identified in newly diagnosed children. Findings support critical prevention messaging and retesting of HIV-negative women during pregnancy and breastfeeding, strengthening HIV treatment initiation and follow-up systems and interventions to ensure
HIV-positive women receive lifelong antiretroviral therapy throughout the cascade, and broader implementation of community case finding so children not engaged in care receive testing services.