The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) conducted on 20th May 2024 inception meeting of Patient Initiated Viral Load (PIVLo) Test Project with the implementers and shared the planned methodological approaches before starting the project implementation.
The PIVLo Test Project to be implemented in collaboration with Tsinghua University, aims to uplift the standard of HIV care across Tanzania by focusing on improving HIV viral load testing.
The project involved various stakeholders including district HIV/AIDS coordinators, healthcare professionals from selected facilities and dedicated study staff from NIMR.
In his opening remarks, the Director General of NIMR, Prof. Said Aboud, emphasized the importance of participants continuing to conduct research while adhering to ethics and generating evidence to support policy change aimed at improving the quality of healthcare delivery services for our people.
Dr. Peter Kroli, the Project Principal Investigator, stressed the importance of researchers collaborating with implementers to share experiences and ultimately fostering positive changes in health services through evidence-based data. He also highlighted on finding from previous research which informed on the current intervention model of patient initiated viral load testing to improve the quality and coverage of the testing. The findings indicated that Tanzania has had tremendous success with patients who achieve viral suppression (>90%); however, the coverage is still low particularly among women who are disproportionately highly infected by HIV.
Furthermore, Dr. Elizabeth Shayo and Dr. Gibson Kagaruki, the co-investigators of the study, assured the DG that all efforts would be made to generate evidence on unanswered queries related to the low coverage of viral load testing. They emphasized that the inception meeting is aimed at raising awareness among the implementers regarding the innovative approach for increasing viral load testing so that they can contribute to how it can be implemented better, including the relevancy of the selected health facilities in terms of testing uptake.
The Meeting held at NIMR headquarters involved participants from various hospitals in the Dar es Salaam including Ubungo District i.e. Sinza Hospital, Mbezi Health Center, and Goba Dispensary as well as from Kigamboni District, including Kigamboni District Hospital, Kigamboni Health Center, and Mjimwema Dispensary.