Abstract
South Africa’s health system was affected by the various mitigation measures
implemented to control the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, innovative
interventions were introduced to ensure service continuity. This study sought to explore
the perspectives of stakeholders regarding the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) innovative
interventions implemented during the COVID-19 lockdown period among adolescent girls
and young women (AGYW), as well as their successes and improvements. We selected
and interviewed 12 PrEP stakeholders, including professional nurses, case managers, peer
educators, and counselors from the TB HIV Care programme in the Dr. Kenneth Kaunda
District, in the North-West Province. The qualitative questions explored (1) how PrEP
services were disrupted during the lockdown period, (2) how the disruptions were managed,
and (3) the challenges and successes of the innovative interventions implemented.
The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and thematically analyzed through Tesch’s
eight steps of analysis. The stakeholders confirmed that COVID-19 disruptions affected
the provision of PrEP services in terms of recruitment, counseling, HIV testing, and adherence
support offered in different community hotspots. Responding to these difficulties,
alternative avenues such as social media platforms were implemented and used for service
continuity. The themes that emerged were organized into the following two categories:
PrEP services provided during and after the COVID-19 lockdown period, as well as the
successes and challenges. The current study provides further insight into COVID-19, aiming
to inform preparations for future pandemics. Innovative PrEP interventions alleviated
COVID-19 disruptions in some settings and improved HIV services, but this was not the
case in the selected study area.