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Lighthouse Trust calls for continued fight against HIVLighthouse Trust says it wants to see become Malawi Aids free and has since appealed to development partners to continue providing assistance in the fight against HIV transmission to the end.
One of Lighthouse Trust board members, Owen Lupeska said this at Zomba Central Hospital during a tour of HIV and Aids projects implemented under Tisungane Clinic.
He said he was impressed with collaboration between Lighthouse Trust and the Ministry of Health and called for continued collaboration towards eliminating HIV and Aids.
Lupeska said the tour of Zomba Central Hospital was intended to monitor how Tisungane Clinic is providing services to clients and how it is coping to service demand.
He said he was impressed with how the clinic operates and has appreciated some of the challenges at the clinic.
“We’re very grateful for assistance we receive from development partners and let me say that we appreciate this gesture.. I’ve seen how the assistance is being used to respond to HIV and Aids, ” the Lighthouse Trust board member added.
Lighthouse Trust, Chief Programme Officer, Thom Chaweza, said the trust is doing its best to delivery of services at Tisungane Clinic despite operating from a limited space at the Zomba Hospital.
He added that Tisungane Clinic has well trained staff, dedicated to duty and ethical in their profession.
Apart from touring Tisungane Clinic, the board members also toured cervical cancer and TB screening sections at the hospital.
Source: https://malawi24.com/2023/09/09/lighthouse-trust-calls-for-continued-fight-against-hiv [...]
September 9, 2023View
Near point-of-care viral load testing enables quick clinical action for…A study conducted in Malawi has shown that near point-of-care technologies have the capacity to improve viral-load testing, increase the frequency and quality of clinical action and reduce the costs incurred by outpatients in HIV clinics.
Near point-of-care assays allow HIV viral-load tests to be conducted within hours of sample collection at the same health facility, delivering results quickly. It allows result availability (within 24 hours) and clinical action (therapeutic intervention from the attending clinician) on the same visit. These tests can be operated outside the conventional laboratories by non laboratory personnel, and in diverse locations more accessible to the patients receiving care. By making testing available on-site, the need for specimen transport to centralised laboratories that lead to long turnaround time between sample collection and result availability (nearly seven weeks in some cases) can be removed. This method has its challenges however, including the need for decentralised quality control, equipment maintenance, and supply chain, as well as the cost of equipment and commodities.
Near point-of-care tests have potential in regions like eastern and southern Africa. Recent data show that in eastern and southern Africa, only 52% of people living with HIV were virally suppressed. Whereas 91% of people living with HIV in South Africa had at least one viral load test in 2015, only 53% in Malawi were tested.
Dr Prakash Ganesh and colleagues at the Lighthouse Trust in Lilongwe, Malawi conducted a retrospective study of the implementation of near point-of-care testing. The Lighthouse Trust operates two urban HIV clinics in Lilongwe with a combined patient load of 32,430. Between January and December 2017, laboratory staff used the GeneXpert HIV-1 viral load assay (a near point-of-care technology) to carry out quick viral load tests on patients who were clinically suspected of antiretroviral therapy (ART) failure or advanced HIV disease. Patients who were thought to be doing well on treatment continued to have their samples sent to a centralised laboratory, with a longer waiting time for results.
A total of 2813 people received near point-of-care viral-load testing, of whom 1511 patients received their primary care at the Lighthouse Trust and so had more data collected. Of this group, 57% were tested because of a previous high viral load, 33% because of clinical indication of advanced HIV disease and 4% for monitoring after switching to second-line treatment.
Results of the testing were that 926 people (61%) had an elevated viral load (greater than 1000), whereas 585 (39%) were virally suppressed (below 1000). Of the 929 with an elevated viral load, 719 had clinical intervention, including 557 who switched to second-line treatment and 104 who were referred for adherence counselling. Clinical intervention mostly took place on the same day (82%) or the following day (10%).
These findings illustrate several potential advantages of near point-of-care viral load testing, particularly prompt data-driven clinical action. First, had patients perceived to be failing been presumptively switched to second-line treatment without the use of viral-load testing, up to 39% may have been unnecessarily switched, indicating that the access to on-site viral-load testing enables more appropriate clinical action.
The proportion of patients on second-line treatment in Malawi (2%) is much lower than the proportion who have an elevated viral load (6%), suggesting that many people on failing ART are not switched. In this study, 60% of patients with elevated viral load were switched to second-line treatment, while 11% initiated adherence counselling, indicating the impact that rapid, immediate testing can have on effective clinical decision-making in a non-research setting.
Third, the same-day clinical action not only benefits patients’ health but also may reduce their out-of-pocket cost of returning to collect their test results at subsequent visits.
References
Ganesh P et al. Near Point-of-Care HIV Viral Load: Targeted Testing at Large Facilities. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 86: 258-263, February 2021 (open access).
doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002555
Source: https://www.aidsmap.com/news/apr-2021/near-point-care-viral-load-testing-enables-quick-clinical-action-people-high-viral [...]
April 2, 2021View
U.S Ambassador to Malawi visits Mzimba District HospitalThe newly appointed Ambassador of the United States of America to Malawi, His Excellency Robert Scott, and his wife, Anne, visited Mzimba District Hospital, a Government of Malawi hospital that Lighthouse Trust provides direct service delivery and technical support in integrated HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care services among other sites in the Northern Region of Malawi.
The visit, which took place on Monday, 13th January 2020, was organized to familiarize the Ambassador with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) support for sustainable HIV epidemic control, TB services, and cervical cancer screen and treat services. In attendance for the visit were the Country Director for CDC, Dr Andrew Auld; Mzimba South Acting Director of Health and Social Services, Dr Lumbani Munthali; the Executive Director of the Lighthouse Trust, Prof Sam Phiri; as well as Jhpiego’s Gateway Project Director, Ms. Gertrude Chipungu.
During the visit, healthcare workers and peer navigators were able to demonstrate the various HIV integrated services being implemented to achieve the 90-90-90 goals, the adopted HIV and AIDS 90-90-90 treatment targets of the Malawi National Strategic Plan for HIV and AIDS (2015-2020).
HIV testing services such as provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC) and active index testing were showcased during the visit. The Ambassador was also given a tour of other clinical services being implemented to identify more HIV positive individuals as well as those that are improving linkage to antiretroviral therapy (ART). He was able to observe how services such as active index HIV testing is implemented to increase HIV case identification, implementation of Integrating cervical cancer screen and treat into routine HIV care and use of Electronic Medical Record System (EMRs) at the facility. The Ambassador was also briefed on how the facility implements prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) in the maternity unit, outpatient services including sexually transmitted infections (STI), and medical as well as surgical inpatient services at key service delivery points are provided.
Other unique interventions at community and facility level showcased were those targeting key populations including female sex workers and partners of people living with HIV (PLHIV).
In his remarks at the end of the tour, Ambassador Scott commended the collaborative efforts of the partners working at the district hospital, saying, “I’m impressed with the collaboration and teamwork between the Ministry of Health, Lighthouse and Jhpiego.”
In regards to the services, he touched upon active index testing, expressing how impressed he was with the current approach of actively following up sexual partners of PLHIV to reach the first 90. “It is not easy to convince sexual partners to go for testing!” He added.
Mzimba District Hospital is a secondary referral hospital which was built in 1989 and opened in 1992. The hospital provides general health services including limited surgical interventions to an estimated 118,000 people and as of September 2019, 4617 people living with HIV were alive on antiretroviral therapy. [...]
January 20, 2020View
New pediatric formulation for HIV treatment hits the ground in…The Malawi government recently launched a project called ‘Kuunika Data Use Interventions’ to improve health systems by incorporating data driven decisions.
The project’s implementation is supported by a consortium of four organisations namely Lighthouse Trust (LHT), Baobab Health Trust (BHT), Luke International – Norway (LIN) and International Training and Education Centre for Health (I-TECH).
In 2016 the country signed a US$10-million financing agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund activities under the Project.
Andrew Likaka, Director of Quality Management for the Project, said the objectives are to improve planning, performance, and quality of health services with better use of information.
“There are three main outcomes to be realised: improved data supply, improved data demand and improved data governance,” he said.
Dan Namarika, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Population said the project follows the global community’s inauguration of the Principles for Donor Alignment for Digital Investment.
“Our ministry is working on the new eHealth Strategy to guide both the Ministry and partners on how to coordinate resources.”
Likaka explained, “The Project has also fast-tracked the development of underpinning architecture and infrastructure to strengthen data supply and access which consists: the Master Health Facility Registry, the Interoperability Layer and other existing health systems linkages.”
The Project is now working to enable automatic exchange of data between OpenLMIS open source, cloud-based electronic logistics management information system purpose-built to manage health commodity for the supply chain system and District Health Information Systems (DHIS 2).
Source: https://itweb.africa/content/lLn14MmjBLkqJ6Aa [...]
February 8, 2019View
Malawians urged to go for HIV testLighthouse Trust in Malawi has called on Malawians to voluntarily go for HIV test in order to know their status as one way of reducing HIV transmission.
In an interview, Lighthouse Ambassador to Malawi Manzoor Bheda said HIV test is good for people’s wellbeing as it assist them to know their status and they start receiving treatment if found HIV positive at an early stage .
Bheda added that Lighthouse Trust has contributed to the national response to HIV together with the Ministry of Health through Kamuzu Central Hospital and Lilongwe District Health Office and will continue with the provision of the services in the city.
Bheda also encouraged health personnel to continue with the good work in providing quality services to the nation.
He said since the official opening of the Lighthouse Trust in 2001, the organization has managed to establish three Centres of Excellence for integration, HIV prevention, treatment and care.
Lighthouse has also maintained presence in over 10 districts in Malawi a development which he described as a priority for all.
Concurring with Bheda, Lighthouse Executive Director Professor Sam Phiri said the organization has made great key achievements since it is able to provide quality services on various HIV related diseases including treatment for Hypertension and Tuberculosis (TB).
He said Lighthouse also manages to make sure that people who would like to know their HIV status are provided HIV testing and counselling services.
Lighthouse Trust is working with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to help and encourage those living with HIV where they can get the treatment and how they can live a healthy everyday life.
The organisation has centres such as the Martin Preuss as well as technical assistance to ten facilities in Lilongwe District and Maula Kachere Prison.
Source: https://malawi24.com/2018/09/12/malawians-urged-to-go-for-hiv-test [...]
September 12, 2018View