Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has been a global hazard to public health since its discovery in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The Covid-19 pandemic has had negative impacts on diverse services around the world. These include disruptions in the timely provision of health services. Moreover, access to healthcare facilities was difficult among people, including those living with HIV (PLHIV). Furthermore, Covid-19 placed an additional burden on the healthcare system in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which was already overburdened by high HIV rates. While South Africa (SA) has a substantial proportion of PLHIV and Covid-19 consequences, most research has primarily focused on Covid-19-related difficulties without including HIV.
Aim: To determine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on HIV clinic attendance among PLHIV in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was utilised. The study included individuals aged 18 years and above, residing in South Africa and utilising the HIV public clinics in Region E, Johannesburg. The participants were selected using a multistage sampling technique. A self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant’s sociodemographic characteristics and the impact of Covid-19 on HIV clinic attendance; the results were reported in percentages and frequencies. Fisher’s exact test was used to determine the factors associated with the impact of Covid-19 on HIV clinic attendance. The level of significance was set at p<0.05 using 95% confidence interval. The data was captured in excel version 16 and all analyses were done using STATA version 18.
Results: Data from 480 PLHIV on ART was analysed and it was established that Covid-19 had limited impact on HIV clinic attendance. This was because most of the participants (98.5%) reported no distractions while very few (1.7%) had challenges accessing clinics, and none experienced appointment cancellations. Of the HIV clinic services provided during Covid-19, most of the participants (99%) had access to ART collection. In addition, most of the participants (99.8%) got viral load testing, secondary HIV prevention, and social worker support. Furthermore, no significant correlation was established between socio-demographic variables and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on clinic attendance among PLHIV in Johannesburg.
Conclusion: The study found no significant impact of Covid-19 pandemic and its associated factors on HIV clinic attendance among the PLHIV in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. This underscores the resilience of HIV care systems during the pandemic. However, highlighting the need for continued support to address the unique challenges faced by PLHIV is vital, such
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as education and training, financial support, healthcare system strengthening, community engagement, public awareness campaigns and policy advocacy.