Abstract:
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief committed $15 billion to addressing HIV in resource-poor settings. Objective: To assess the impact of The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief on the treatment services of an HIV care program. Design, setting, and patients: Cohort study utilizing computerized medical records of nonpregnant adults enrolled into the Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment
of HIV/AIDS system, in western Kenya between 27 November 2001 and 24 July 2006. Main outcomes measures: Number of clinics and patients enrolled in Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, as well as patient demographics, immunologic, and clinical characteristics during three periods defined by the availability of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Results: Enrollment as of May 2006 was 23 539. Mean monthly enrollment increased from 64 to 815 between periods 1 and 3. The median CD4 cell count at enrollment during period 3 (172 cells/ml) was significantly higher than for period 2 (119 cells/m
l;P<0.001). World Health Organization stage at enrollment differed significantly between periods with 6.7% having stage 4 disease in period 3 compared with 13.8% during period 1 (P<0.001). Significantly more patients had complete documentation of cART eligibility, during period 3 as compared with the previous periods. Time from enrollment to cART initiation decreased from a median of 64 weeks in period
1 to 12 weeks during period 3 (P<0.001).Conclusion: The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding has allowed Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS to significantly increase
the number of individuals receiving HIV care and provided the ability to expand services allowing for identification of patients earlier in their disease process