Citation
Pettifor, Audrey E.; Filiatreau, Lindsey M.; & Delany-Moretlwe, Sinead (2019). Time to Strengthen HIV Treatment and Prevention for Youth. Lancet HIV, 6(11), e727-8.Abstract
In The Lancet HIV, Mhairi Maskew and colleagues use data from a large national laboratory database in South Africa to examine trends in access to public sector HIV treatment programmes by children and adolescents aged 1–19 years between 2005 and 2016. The authors should be congratulated for highlighting important findings using national data in this often underexamined population, information that is needed to mount a national response. The authors report a ten times increase in the number of adolescents with viral load data, suggestive of antiretroviral therapy (ART) use, between 2005–08 and 2013–16. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission has worked remarkably well, with patients starting ART steadily decreasing since 2011 among patients aged 1–14 years. However, in line with global trends, the authors also identified large gaps in ART initiation among adolescents with presumed horizontal infection; less than half of patients seeking care aged 15–19 years started ART.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2352-3018(19)30232-2Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2019Journal Title
Lancet HIVAuthor(s)
Pettifor, Audrey E.Filiatreau, Lindsey M.
Delany-Moretlwe, Sinead
ORCiD
Pettifor - 0000-0002-3387-0817Filiatreau - 0000-0002-0355-4477