Objective: Medication adherence is often suboptimal for adolescents with HIV, and establishing correct weight‐based antiretroviral therapy dosing is difficult, contributing to virological failure. This review aimed to determine the proportion of adolescents achieving virological suppression after initiating ART.Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies published between January 2004 and September 2014 including ≥50 adolescents taking ART and reporting on the proportion of virological suppressed participants were included.Results: From a total of 5316 potentially relevant citations, 20 studies were included. Only eight studies reported the proportion of adolescents that were virologically suppressed at a specified time point. The proportion of adolescents with virological suppression at 12 months ranged from 27 to 89%.Conclusion: Adolescent achievement of HIV virological suppression was highly variable. Improved reporting of virological outcomes from a wider range of settings is required to support efforts to improve HIV care and treatment for adolescents.

There is a substantial burden of HIV infection among older children in sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of whom are diagnosed after presentation with advanced disease. We investigated the provision and uptake of provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) among children in primary health care facilities, and explored health care worker (HCW) perspectives on providing HIV testing to children. Children aged 6 to 15 y attending six primary care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe, were offered PITC, with guardian consent and child assent. The reasons why testing did not occur in eligible children were recorded, and factors associated with HCWs offering and children/guardians refusing HIV testing were investigated using multivariable logistic regression. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinic nurses and counsellors to explore these factors. Among 2,831 eligible children, 2,151 (76%) were offered PITC, of whom 1,534 (54.2%) consented to HIV testing. The main reasons HCWs gave for not offering PITC were the perceived unsuitability of the accompanying guardian to provide consent for HIV testing on behalf of the child and lack of availability of staff or HIV testing kits. Children who were asymptomatic, older, or attending with a male or a younger guardian had significantly lower odds of being offered HIV testing. Male guardians were less likely to consent to their child being tested. 82 (5.3%) children tested HIV-positive, with 95% linking to care. Of the 940 guardians who tested with the child, 186 (19.8%) were HIV-positive. The HIV prevalence among children tested was high, highlighting the need for PITC. For PITC to be successfully implemented, clear legislation about consent and guardianship needs to be developed, and structural issues addressed. HCWs require training on counselling children and guardians, particularly male guardians, who are less likely to engage with health care services. Increased awareness of the risk of HIV infection in asymptomatic older children is needed. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary Over 3 million children globally are estimated to be living with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). While HIV infection is most commonly spread through unprotected sex with an infected person, most HIV infections among children are the result of mother-to-child HIV transmission during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Mother-to-child transmission can be prevented by administering antiretroviral therapy to mothers with HIV during pregnancy, delivery, and breast feeding, and to their newborn babies. According to a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS published in 2012, 92% of pregnant women with HIV were living in sub-Saharan Africa and just under 60% were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Consequently, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where most children infected with HIV live. If an opportunity to prevent mother-to-child transmission around the time of birth is missed, diagnosis of HIV infection in a child or adolescent is likely to depend on HIV testing in health care facilities. Health care provider–initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) for children is important in areas where HIV infection is common because earlier diagnosis allows children to benefit from care that can prevent the development of advanced HIV disease. Even if a child or adolescent appears to be in good health, access to care and antiretroviral therapy provides a health benefit to the individual over the long term. The administration of HIV testing (and counselling) to children relies not only on health care workers (HCWs) offering HIV testing but also on parents or guardians consenting for a child to be tested. However, more than 30% of children in countries with severe HIV epidemics are AIDS orphans, and economic conditions in these countries cause many adults to migrate for work, leaving children under the care of extended families. This study aimed to investigate the reasons for acceptance and rejection of PITC in primary health care settings in Harare, Zimbabwe. By exploring HCW perspectives on providing HIV testing to children and adolescents, the study also sought to gain insight into factors that could be hindering implementation of testing procedures. The researchers identified all children aged 6 to 15 years old at six primary care clinics in Harare, who were offered HIV testing as part of routine care between 22 January and 31 May 2013. Study fieldworkers collected data on numbers of child attendances, numbers offered testing, numbers who underwent HIV testing, and reasons why HIV testing did not occur. During the study 2,831 children attending the health clinics were eligible for PITC, and just over half (1,534, 54.2%) underwent HIV testing. Eighty-two children tested HIV-positive, and nearly all of them received counselling, medication, and follow-up care. HCWs offered the test to around 75% of those eligible. The most frequent explanation given by HCWs for a diagnostic test not being offered was that the child was accompanied by a guardian not appropriate for providing consent (401 occasions, 59%); Other reasons given were a lack of available counsellors or test kits and counsellors refusing to conduct the test. The likelihood of being offered the test was lower for children not exhibiting symptoms (such as persistent skin problems), older children, or those attending with a male or a younger guardian. In addition, over 100 guardians or parents provided consent but left before the child could be tested. The researchers also conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 clinic nurses and counsellors (two from each clinic) to explore challenges to implementation of PITC. The researchers recorded the factors associated with testing not taking place, either when offered to eligible children or when HCWs declined to offer the test. The interviewees identified the frequent absence or unavailability of parents or legal guardians as an obstacle, and showed uncertainty or misconceptions around whether testing of the guardian was mandatory (versus recommended) and whether specifically a parent (if one was living) must provide consent. The interviews also revealed HCW concerns about the availability of adequate counselling and child services, and fears that a child might experience maltreatment if he or she tested positive. HCWs also noted long waiting times and test kits being out of stock as practical hindrances to testing. Prevalence of HIV was high among the children tested, validating the need for PITC in sub-Saharan health care settings. Although 76% of eligible attendees were offered testing, the authors note that this is likely higher than in routine settings because the researchers were actively recording reasons for not offering testing and counselling, which may have encouraged heath care staff to offer PITC more often than usual. The researchers outline strategies that may improve PITC rates and testing acceptance for Zimbabwe and other sub-Saharan settings. These strategies include developing clear laws and guidance concerning guardianship and proxy consent when testing older children for HIV, training HCWs around these policies, strengthening legislation to address discrimination, and increasing public awareness about HIV infection in older children. Please access these websites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001649.

Children and adolescents have poorer HIV treatment outcomes than adults. We aimed to assess the effect of community-based support for caregivers of HIV-infected children and adolescents, who are key mediators to children engaging with care, on treatment outcomes. In this open-label, randomised contolled trial, we recruited children aged 6–15 years with newly-diagnosed HIV attending primary health-care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe. Children were randomly assigned to receive decentralised primary health-care clinic-based HIV care (control group), according to national guidelines for 18 months, or decentralised care plus structured support visits by trained community health workers (intervention group) according to national guidelines for 18 months. Primary outcomes were the proportion of participants who died or had an HIV viral load of 400 copies per mL or higher at 12 months after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation (among those who started ART within 6 months of enrolment); and the proportion who missed two or more scheduled clinic visits by 18 months post-enrolment (among all participants). Analyses were complete-case, modified-intention-to-treat. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry, number PACTR201212000442288. Between January, 2013, and January, 2015, 470 participants tested HIV-positive at seven study primary health-care clinics and were screened for eligibility. Of the 334 eligible children and adolescents, 166 were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 168 to the control group. The median age of participants was 11 years (IQR 8–13) and 178 (53%) were girls. Among the 238 participants who started ART within 6 months of enrolment, the proportion who died or had a viral load of 400 copies/mL or higher at 12 months post-ART initiation was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (31 [33%] of 94 participants vs 42 [49%] of 86 participants, respectively, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0·46, 95% CI 0·23–0·89; p=0·02). The proportion of children missing two or more scheduled visits was similar in the intervention group and control group (27 [17%] of 155 vs 30 [18%] of 165, aOR 0·92, 95% CI 0·49–1·74; p=0·79). One participant withdrew from the trial 240 days after enrolment and 12 died during follow-up (five in the intervention group; seven in the control group). Community-based support for caregivers has high potential for scalability and could have a substantial effect on HIV virological suppression in children and adolescents, a group with disproportionately poor treatment outcomes. Wellcome Trust.

Introduction: Globally, increasing numbers of HIV‐infected children are reaching adolescence due to antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated rates of loss‐to‐follow‐up (LTFU) from HIV care services among children as they transition from childhood through adolescence.Methods: Individuals aged 5–19 years initiated on ART in a public‐sector HIV clinic in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, between 2005 and 2009 were included in a retrospective cohort study. Participants were categorized into narrow age‐bands namely: 5–9 (children), 10–14 (young adolescents) and 15–19 (older adolescents). The effect of age at ART initiation, current age (using a time‐updated Lexis expansion) and transitioning from one age group to the next on LTFU was estimated using Poisson regression.Results: Of 2273 participants, 1013, 875 and 385 initiated ART aged 5–9, 10–14 and 15–19 years, respectively. Unlike those starting ART as children, individuals starting ART as young adolescents had higher LTFU rates after moving to the older adolescent age‐band (Adjusted rate ratio (ARR) 1.54; 95% CI: 0.94–2.55) and similarly, older adolescents had higher LTFU rates after transitioning to being young adults (ARR 1.79; 95% CI: 1.05–3.07). In older adolescents, the LTFU rate among those who started ART in that age‐band was higher compared to the rate among those starting ART at a younger age (ARR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.05, 2.77). This however did not hold true for other age‐groups.Conclusions: Adolescents had higher rates of LTFU compared to other age‐groups, with older adolescents at particularly high risk in all analyses. Age‐updated analyses that examine movement across narrow age‐bands are paramount in understanding how developmental heterogeneity in children affects HIV outcomes.